Letter: Shifnal Council is helping town - what are others doing?

Letter: I would like to emphasise that I am making this statement as an individual and not as a statement from Shifnal Council.

It is with great regret that I have discovered that the butcher's has decided to close after being an integral part of the town for so many years. It is a hard economic time for everybody.

Shifnal Council has put in place a number of initiatives over the past year to assist businesses. We have continued to fund the car parks enabling free parking and have taken on responsibility for the Christmas lights. These two initiatives will cost the council approximately £50,000 a year.

The council has led with developing a corporate logo for the town to help businesses promote themselves It has put a project together to enhance the street scene in Shifnal. It is important to point out that Shifnal Town Council does not receive any of the business rates paid by the businesses.

Can I pose the following questions:

1. How many of the retailers have taken up these initiatives? How many of the retail businesses are involved in the Business Forum? How many of the businesses advertise in the Scroll (5,000 of which are distributed free to every household)? How many of the businesses are advertising the free car parking?

2. How many of the businesses will be advertising and capitalising on the Christmas lights?

3. How many of the businesses have taken advantage of the added footfall of the Arts Festival by putting on ‘festival specials’ or promotions? (I saw no ‘jam butties’ or ‘Diddy cakes’ on sale when I brought Ken Dodd to open the festival).

4. The recent farmers’ market – how many businesses put on market day specials, dressed up in Victorian costume to get them noticed, or had ‘test drive’ events to take advantage of the extra footfall?

I can tell you that the small number of businesses that are taking up these opportunities are doing well.

Tony Stringfellow

Shifnal