Traders demand more action to protect town’s small businesses

Harrogate Council announced its five-year blueprint to ensure the area’s growth last year, to counter the effects of the recession and help ensure the survival of its vital small business sector – the bedrock of Harrogate’s economy.

But in the face of coalition Government moves to abandon initiatives like the Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward and Business Link, which helped support small start-up businesses, council chiefs have announced there is an urgent need to update the strategy to keep investment, jobs and wealth in the area.

Now under the new proposals, which are set to be agreed next week, Harrogate Council will take the lead in helping generate and support enterprise in the town.

The Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce has welcomed the changes, but argue they do not go far enough to promote town centre vitality, encourage new businesses and protect the ailing Harrogate International Centre (HIC).

“We welcome the revised strategy but there are areas where we have to be very careful with what gets done”, said chief executive Brian Dunsby. We have had seven new members in the last month alone, we are getting an almost record rate of growth.

“These are people who are leaving big companies and are starting up smaller ones such as accountants or solicitors.

“Harrogate is unique in this respect and the council needs to take the lead in promoting seminars arranged by the private sector.

“Business tourism is also missing from this strategy.

“Harrogate International Centre is in an awful state due to the loss of some of its largest events and we need to get smaller companies in to fill this gap.

“We also want to see more done to promote town centre vitality and encourage making it more attractive to visitors in Harrogate,” he added.

Official figures have revealed that there are 9,000 business across the district which are responsible for about 87,000 jobs – although the vast majority employ fewer than 10 people.

Because of the high level of self-employment across the area of about 15 per cent of all jobs, the recession sparked grave fears that it could bite deep into the core of the Harrogate economy.

As part of the revised strategy, which is due to be considered by the council’s overview and scrutiny commission on April 18, extra work will take place from the council’s Economic Development Unit (EDU) to share news and information with the private sector and identify demand for new services.

The EDU will rebrand the business pages on its website and provide “targeted support” for start-up businesses.

It says it will also seek to maximise opportunities to secure additional funding to support new and existing businesses across the district.

John Hayton, head of property and economic development at Harrogate Council, said: “There are areas where we are now trying to fill the gap.

“Small businesses are very important to the Harrogate economy and they are a growing part of our economy as well.

“During down-turns we do see a rise in the number of start-up businesses.

“One of our concerns is people being made redundant in all sorts of areas.

“These changes we have decided to make to the strategy are not massive, but they are very important.

“We are being realistic that we cannot offer what Yorkshire Forward were offering but we will step up the support we give the private sector.”

For more information, visit www.harrogate.gov.uk/business