Councils 'should do more' to support small firms

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) claims councils "could do more" to support companies, particularly in areas such as parking, procurement and business rate cuts.

Siman Briault, a spokesman for the federation, says that planning decisions also have a significant impact on small business trade.

"The local council has control over planning decisions and can be bullied by supermarkets into setting up huge out-of-town retail centres," he explains.

Mr Briault is also critical of certain councils for failing to publicise schemes and tax breaks available to small business owners and claims that application forms are often only found on a "very obscure website which the council conveniently don't tell anybody about".

According to a recent report published by the Conservative party, 2,000 small shops are forced to close their doors every year, due to increased competition from bigger stores.

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