MORE new businesses were established in Dorset in 2018 than in any previous year, it has been revealed.

The increase came despite the economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

There were 8,314 companies registered in the county last year, an increase of 14.8 per cent on 2017.

That brings the total number of registered companies in Dorset to 56,307, up from 52,411 at the end of 2017, a rise of 7.4 per cent.

The statistics come from the Inform Direct Review of UK Company Formations, using data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics.

Poole formed the most new businesses, with 3,450, followed by Bournemouth (2,313) and West Dorset (741).

Ian Girling, chief executive of Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “New businesses are the life blood of the economy so this is excellent news – and it’s encouraging to hear this great news in a challenging climate.

“It supports the fact that Dorset is a great place to both live and work with a thriving economy and a fantastic support structure to help businesses support and grow. “We’ve also got three great colleges and two universities in Dorset and I am sure this will be a contributing factor. We also need to focus on developing entrepreneurial skills for young people and it’s essential we nurture and support new businesses as we look to the future.”

Chris Davis, local agent for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Dorset, said: "Since over 97 per cent of all UK business have fewer than 20 staff, it is not surprising then to learn that there has been a marked increase in Dorset of new companies.

"It is always worthy of note that the report refers to companies and not to an ever increasing army of self employed businesses that get barely noticed.

"The FSB has many concerns, however – the situation regarding late payments and a broken business rate system plus a vast array of new pieces of legislation constantly being a choking threat to any new business.

"The FSB is, however, at the forefront of informing the government how to treat these new businesses and welcoming these new business owners to enjoy the support services provided to its members."

John Korchak, director of operations at Inform Direct, said: “These record high figures for new company formations in Dorset show a very positive picture for business against a background of political and economic uncertainty. It is clear that the county continues to provide a supportive environment, both for new business ventures and existing enterprises.

“It is heartening to see entrepreneurs making their mark with increasing numbers of new businesses being formed. This picture is mirrored elsewhere in the UK, with a number of regions seeing more new formations in 2018 than at any time in their history and the UK as a whole achieving a new record total of registered companies.”

Across the UK, a record number of new companies were formed– 669,855 compared with 634,116 in 2017. The number of registered companies in the UK also grew, finishing the year with a total of more than 4.3million.