Are freeports the shot in the arm we need? The top business stories from Hampshire and Dorset

How well could you explain the plans for eight 'freeports' in the UK, including one for Solent? And will they provide the boost to the economy that's been promised?

We rounded up two pieces of research into business attitudes to the initiative.

A report by BDO, called Rethinking the Economy, found many of the 500 medium-sized businesses surveyed were planning extra investment as a result of freeports. But a significant number remained to be convinced of the benefits.

Meanwhile, law firm Womble Bond Dickinson polled another 500 businesses and found only 16 per cent had a clear understanding of how freeports would work, though 51 per cent agreed they had the potential to regenerate areas.

Other top stories this week

• A bid by Dorset's American-owned defence giant Cobham to take over another engineering firm will be "closely monitored", according to the government.
• Southampton is set to enjoy a boost from the return of the cruise industry.
• The former Toys R Us site, which lies empty in the heart of Southampton, has been sold and could be part of a "key development" in the city's Mayflower Quarter.
• Poole's luxury boat builder Sunseeker International made a ï¿¡23m net loss last year (or ï¿¡5.7m by its preferred EBITDA figure), but says it is stronger than ever with a ï¿¡400m order book.
• We might not have heard as much lately about the potential of the Bournemouth area's tech and digital sector, but it still has "tremendous" potential for growth, according to a chief executive of one of the industry's local success stories.
• A major Southampton employer has signed a new lease on its landmark building.
• The owners of a New Forest hotel have revealed plans to create 50 jobs.
• A lawyer whose career includes representing victims of Jimmy Savile and the Westminster terror attack has become the first black senior partner in a top 100 UK law firm.
• Digital bank Starling, which has around 200 staff in Southampton, says it's on course to turn its first profit.
• British American Tobacco, which has 1,200 jobs in Southampton, said sales were lifted by increasing demand for its alternatives to cigarettes.
• Another Bournemouth restaurant was forced to close after chefs were forced to isolate.
• A growing number of employers seeking "some form of office normality" are driving demand at a Southampton business site.
• The popular cheese and wine bar Renoufs is opening in the former premises of Pizza Express in Poole.
• A New Forest golf club is under new ownership.
• The winners of the Weymouth and Portland Business Awards were announced.
• Tesla plans to install two new superchargers in Hampshire and one in Dorset.
• A circus on the brink of collapse is appealing for help.
• Business activity is picking up locally, according to regular research by NatWest.
• A company which makes costumes for theatre, TV and holiday entertainment has been boosted by a grant from BCP Council.
• Three Bournemouth hotels have been refurbished after the coach holiday firm Daish's Holidays spent ï¿¡1m on its properties.
• Changing Places toilets are recommended for all larger buildings – but as of last year, there were only 1,500 in the UK, and none of them in hotels. Bournemouth's Marsham Court has become the first hotel to get one, with the aid of a council grant.
• Poole's manufacturer of pies and pastries is creating 50 jobs.
• A lift engineer who suffered horrific injuries on a construction site has been awarded ï¿¡3.4m in compensation with the help of a Dorset lawyer.
• The subprime lender Amigo, which employs around 300 people at its Bournemouth head office, had to delay publication of its annual results after a letter from the Financial Conduct Authority.
• It's the sort of mishap that used to befall Del Boy Trotter. A Poole business ordered 1,000 T-shirts bearing the legend "#FreeBritney" in support of pop star Britney Spears – but the products were emblazoned with "#FreeBrittany" instead.

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Have you entered?

If you're based in Hampshire, you should really think about entering the South Coast Business Awards.

We've been profiling one of the categories each week and this time it was the turn of the Business and the Community title.

Someone else's story

The menopause is not a subject you hear discussed much in the business world, even though it will (obviously) affect half of us at some stage.

Dorset Chamber held a terrific online event aimed at educating people about the menopause and how businesses can and should help staff who are dealing with it.

The chamber is clearly leading the way on this – as shown by the fact that the event attracted British Chambers of Commerce chief executive Shevaun Haviland and Labour's shadow business minister Seema Malhotra.

Watch for a report early next week, but in the meantime, this week's choice of someone else's content is this excellent collection of resources about menopause on the chamber's website.

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