Why we were happy to recognise council initiatives to help small businesses
LET’S be honest, everyone likes a good moan about their local council on occasions.
Like estate agents, journalists, bank managers and overpaid sportsmen, councils can sometimes be an easy target for a whinge or two for not delivering everything that we want or expect from them.
Undoubtedly, of course, there are some with legitimate complaints about their local authorities but that shouldn’t disguise the fact that our councils do genuinely try to serve and support their communities.
That is why we were pleased, on Friday, to do a special event to reward the work that is done by our local councils to help their local SMEs. Following the lead of other FSB areas, including Dorset, we held our first event to reward the councils in Gloucestershire and the West of England who we believe have done the most to help their small businesses during the past 12 months.
All the major councils were invited to submit nominations in three different categories and we, as judges, were extremely impressed that even in the time of relative austerity in terms of what councils can spend on business support, there is still a lot of creativity and good ideas among economic development teams and others.
Five local councils ended up winning FSB awards: Bristol City Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council, the Forest of Dean District Council, Gloucester City Council and doubletrophy winning South Gloucestershire Council - and they did so for variety of positive reasons. Some offered vital grants and support to help businesses grow, others have set up or backed business groups in local neighbourhoods and one (the Forest of Dean) won for setting up an excellent partnership with local business organisations to help boost their area.
The overall feeling we were left was that our councils are really trying to make a difference even if they don’t have the same funds, resources or time they may have had in the past to help their SMEs.
Of course, it should be no surprise really that our councils should be doing all this because, as we at the FSB never tire of telling people, small businesses aren’t just a part of our local economy: they are the key to its success. Micro businesses (defined as firms with 10 or fewer employees) account for around 89 per cent of all the businesses in Gloucestershire and the West of England and when you throw in the small-sized businesses (up to 49 employees) that takes us up to staggering 98 per cent. Clearly, therefore, SMEs deserve all the support and encouragement possible from our stakeholders and that is why we were so keen to have these awards and showcase those that are doing just that.
Will we all learn to love our councils? Well, that’s probably a bit hopeful, to be honest, but it doesn’t do us any harm occasionally to reflect and focus on the really good work that is going on out there – and our awards were the perfect platform to do so.