IT has been said that common sense is sometimes actually not that common.

Developing close links between our fantastic businesses in the region and young people who live here, should be a given but unfortunately it is not always the case.

To help ensure companies have access to the very best potential team members, and our school leavers and university graduates realise what businesses have to offer, we organise regular Linking Business and Education events.

This work has led to the launch of an ambitious campaign to keep talented young people in the North-East and ensure they know all of the opportunities open to them.

In partnership with Nifco UK we have developed information on Great Reasons to Build Your Career in the North-East, full of positive facts about employment and living in the region.

These include details on growing sectors such as life sciences, with £38m invested in the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, in Darlington, an estimated 27,000 manufacturing jobs available by 2022 and house prices 30 per cent lower than the national average.

There are also other really positive statistics about many aspects of our regional economy, which can be used to encourage our talented next generation to put down roots here.

For example, the largest integrated chemicals plant in the UK is at Wilton on Teesside with more than 5,500 people directly employed and many more working in the supply chain.

These nuggets of information were specifically drawn in response to research undertaken with students around the North-East.

We explored their understanding of the labour market and how they approached planning their careers and then developed our regional ‘sales pitch’ accordingly.

At the launch there was perfect examples of the excellent work being done in this field by employability charity Actes, Nifco and the Esh Group.

More information is available on our website and I urge you to look at it and help us to retain the great many young people who can be such an asset to our business community.

A skilled workforce is paramount to our mutual success and with the General Election looming we have prepared a manifesto for all the election candidates to ensure they know what we need to see to build a successful North-East.

It also outlines the other important issues the elected representatives must have at the top of their ‘to-do’ lists.

We need them to hit the ground running.

James Ramsbotham is chief executive at the North East England Chamber of Commerce