LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson has welcomed our Listen to Business campaign and pledged to listen to the concerns of south London companies as he develops strategies to help them through the hard times ahead.

Newsquest South London and South London Business launched the campaign last week to ask the Mayor to back local businesses struggling with difficult market conditions — and help stimulate a financial recovery.

Mr Johnson announced he would publish a recovery plan before Christmas, which he said would help with short-term problems and provide long-term answers.

It includes investing £600m in training and lobbying government to create a competitive tax regime He said: “I am carefully listening to the concerns of businesses, including those in south London, and will be unveiling new policies in my Economic Recovery Action Plan, which I will publish before Christmas.”

He added: “The plan is being drawn up to help businesses, in particular small and medium size ones, and Londoners through the downturn.

“It also aims to ensure we remain the world’s best city to do business in once the recovery starts.”

Mr Johnson also accepted more practical help was needed to help steer business through the current turmoil.

He said: “In particular I want to see all small and medium-sized firms which supply goods and services to the Greater London Authority (GLA) are paid much quicker than has been the case in the past.”

A good start, he said, would be to improve credit terms.

Mr Johnson said: “We are looking at fast-tracking invoice payments to ensure small firms with GLA contracts, many based in south London, are paid within 10 days to ease their cash flow.

“We are also looking to cut red tape from our procurement practices to make it easier for small firms to get work from the GLA as well as ways to make cheap and flexible credit available.”

The Mayor also sought to reassure south London he was indeed listening to business.

He said: “This is just the start and what I can practically do first.

“There is a lot more to come and my team will work closely with and listen to groups such as South London Business to ensure we understand your needs and give you maximum support.”