Businesses asked to rate Council services in biggest-ever trade survey of Borders
Monday, July 3 2006
Do you run a business in the Borders? If so, how happy are you with the services and facilities provided by the Council, and how do you think they can be improved?
These are the questions being asked in the biggest-ever survey of businesses in the area. The survey, 'Supporting Business', is being carried out by Scottish Borders Council to establish how well it is fulfilling its statutory and regulatory functions in, for example, waste collection, parking provision, trading standards, licensing, environmental health, planning, building standards and rates revaluation.
The project is a joint effort by SBC's Scrutiny committee and the Scottish Borders Federation of Small Businesses. A working party, chaired by SBC Councillor Vicky Davidson, has been set up to carry out the review.
Over the next week, every Borders-based business will receive a questionnaire with a covering letter, asking about the services they receive from the Council and how they can be made better. Business owners are being asked to return the completed survey, with the pre-paid label, by Monday 31 July 2006. The survey can also be filled in on-line by going to www.scotborders.gov.uk/survey4business [more]
All completed questionnaires will be entered into a prize draw for a Champagne Dinner Bed and Breakfast for Two, courtesy
of the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, Golf and Country Club.
Councillor Davidson said, "Our aim is to make the Scottish Borders an excellent place to do business. We want to encourage
businesses to locate and grow in the Borders and it is important that we ensure we do everything we can to meet their needs
and make the process as easy as possible."
"The best way of finding out if things are working well is to ask the customers. We are asking business people in the Borders
to tell us how 'business friendly' they find Council services, and how we might work to improve them. "
Christine Taylor of the Federation of Small Business added, "This review is so important to our members and I would encourage
every business owner to take time to complete and return the survey. We do need to think about ways in which services can
be more transparent and supportive to business needs."
The Survey results will be collated in the Autumn and the working group intends to complete its report and make its final
recommendations by early 2007.
Councillor Graham Garvie, a member of the Scrutiny review group, explained, "As someone who has run a small business I am
only to well aware of the financial pressures and regulatory demands on businesses. I hope one of the principal outcomes
of this exercise will be finding ways to ease this burden so that the Council can assist small businesses to flourish in the
Scottish Borders."
Fellow group member Councillor Hugh Wight added, "This is an important piece of work to inform Council services and I look
forward to receiving the results."
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