Shropshire Council bosses are pledging the county will become “more business-friendly” after companies claimed not enough was being done to cut back on red tape and improve procurement opportunities.

The authority was told it needed to be more “encouraging” of companies which want to do both business with the council and in the private sector in the county, as well as ensure rural broadband was a top priority.

More than 100 business representatives at the Shropshire Business Summit heard from chief executive Kim Ryley on how the council was helping the county and its businesses head out of recession.

Speakers from Business Link West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands failed to show up, claiming they could not speak while talks were continuing over the creation of a new Government.

Mr Ryley told businesses Shropshire Council was gearing up to “re-engineering Shropshire to grow out of the recession and ride the wave of the upturn” as well as investing in supporting local businesses, including those in market towns as well as in Shrewsbury.

“We have a below average number of business closures, we have had more start-ups than closures and those businesses have better survival rates. Our unemployment has risen but it is still below the national average, with around two thirds of local companies expecting turnover to improve in the next year.”

Although Shropshire Council said it had set up a procurement group to look into the authority’s strategy following the 2009 summit, companies were left without an answer as to how much of the council’s business had gone to local companies since last year’s event.

Local procurement

Oswestry businesswoman Jools Payne asked the authority’s head of development services to produce figures on local procurement, saying she was “disappointed” that no update was available.

She also challenged Mr Ryley on the issue.

“You said in your presentation that the creative new media industry in Shropshire was second to none, then why is Shropshire’s brand work done by a company in Bristol?”

Mr Ryley replied: “We would like to do even more business in Shropshire, if you can match my requirements on price and quality.”

Howard Thorne, of Shropshire Homes, told the panel, which included Mr Ryley, Tom McCabe, director of development services for Shropshire Council, council leader Keith Barrow and chairman of the S hropshire Business Board Geoffrey Davies, that he employed 120 people in the county.

“We deal mainly with three different local authorities, and Telford & Wrekin Council is by far the authority which most encourages companies to go out and create wealth. Rather than seeing what it can get out of the home-building industry, it wants to see how it can help the industry to build more homes. We need more co-operation, what can be done?”

Ian Gibson, of south Shropshire’s largest employer Premier Medical, raised the issues of broadband and the difficulties of attracting a skilled and qualified workforce to a rural area.

“Broadband is a major issue for us, how are you investing in broadband. Also we do need to recruit, with the cost of labour mobility is there anything the council can do to enable businesses to grow?”

Councillor Barrow said a rural broadband project which should bring an enhanced quality broadband service for businesses in rural areas would begin in south Shropshire this year, and if successful would be rolled out to other areas.

He told the summit : “Shropshire will become more business friendly. We are keen to do as much business with Shropshire firms as we can do.”