A St Neots mum who is about to embark on her third childrens’ book is taking part in a competition to discover new business talent.

The Voom campaign offers a share of £1 million-pounds to two people who can pitch a successful business idea and the winner will be chosen by Richard Branson.

Fleur Bateman is now widely recognised in the St Neots’ area for her Burt the Binman books and her campaign, aimed at children, to promote awareness about recycling and waste.

Fleur, from Great Paxton, was inspired to write after struggling to find appropriate material for her 10-year-old son William who was fascinated by refuse lorries and collections.

The finishing touches are being made to her second book, Burt and the Great Storm, which is due to be published soon, and she has plans to write a third.

Entries for the Voom campaign close on May 8 and the public can vote to select their favourite business idea. The public vote closes on May 15 and then on May 21, 80 of the best businesses will make a live pitch at which six finalists will be selected. The winning six will present in front of four judges and Richard Branson will choose his favourite two who will share the £1 million.

Fleur needs people to go online and vote for Burt the Binman so she makes it to the final 80 contestants and has the chance to make her live pitch in May.

“We need lots of votes to help us get seen and help us towards getting backing for this brilliant project. The Voom campaign helps to get small business ventures seen and all the votes we receive can help towards pitching and investment from Virgin Media who sponsor the event,” said Fleur.

She added: “We have created a wonderful educational website for children https://www.burtsrecycleschool.co.uk/ which is a great teaching resource we want to give to schools and early years settings to educate children about the environment. Any financial backing we can get will go towards animation and story books for children. We are hoping to work with Huntingdon District council in the near future to try and make children more mindful about the environment.”

INFO: Check out the Burt the Binman website at: www.burtsrecycleschool.co.uk and to vote for Fleur’s Voom business pitch, go to: www.voom.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitches/changing-britain-one-bin-at-a-time.