It seems that our plans for Nottingham at MIPIM 2011 will be very different from previous years. For the last six years, or so, we have been a sponsor of Nottingham City Council’s Invest in Nottingham team. And 2011 was expected to be no different.

A heavily branded Yacht for Nottingham at MIPIM this year

But the Comprehensive Spending Review has put a stop to all that – and the City have advised us this week that they will no longer be the main driver for this property show. To that end they have cancelled the Yacht that has been chartered for the last 6 years.

The Council have come in for lots of criticism over the years for the so called ‘jolly’ in the South of France. And some people will just not understand how the show works – there’s little point explaining to them. But the show is a hugely influential world stage – in which towns and cities across the globe compete for inward investment.

I have always argued that if we knew which 5% of our marketing hit home – we would abandon the other 95%. But we don’t know. What we do know is that there are a lot of the 5% people and companies in the South of France.

I do understand the sensitivities around a spend on a yacht when jobs are being threatened; but the marketing of the City needs to go on. In times of recession it could be argued that we should be prepared to market harder – one day the market will return and the City needs to be ready to take those opportunities that present themselves.

The team at Invest in Nottingham work tirelessly during the week long show. Sure I would rather be in Cannes than at the Birmingham NEC – I have never denied this. The atmosphere is conducive to business. And business gets done.

We need to make sure the world doesn’t think we are closed for business. That would be a disaster.

It looks like my firm and some of the other private sector firms will form some sort of club and promote the City from a ‘private sector’ viewpoint. But it won’t be the same….

The Nottingham Evening Post carried the story tonight here.