Business Survey Results

Businesses in Denbighshire are more confident than they were 12 months ago.

The results of Denbighshire County Council’s Business Survey 2016 found more firms were looking to maintain staff numbers and are expecting sales and profitability to improve than in the previous year’s survey.

The survey, which had 496 respondents, informs the Council’s work on developing the local economy and its planning for March for Business, a major series of free workshops, networking events and advice sessions for Denbighshire businesses.

Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, Leader of Denbighshire, said: “Supporting businesses in Denbighshire is one of the Council’s top priorities.

“As part of the Economic and Community Ambition Programme we are undertaking a number of high priority projects to help businesses succeed.

“One of the key factors that guides our work is the annual businesses survey and I would like to thank those who took part.

“I am pleased with the positive results and I am delighted businesses feel more confident looking ahead to 2017, because we know it's them that are really responsible for delivering a successful economy in the county.

“We're committed to playing our part in helping businesses and the results of this survey feed into March for Business event which is an opportunity for businesses to take part in free training and networking events which are tailored to suit them.

“I would like to thank businesses for the contribution they make to the success of Denbighshire and for taking the time to fill out the survey.”

The survey also found more firms (54 per cent) were expecting to invest in capital, up from 37 per cent in 2015.

Concerns were raised by businesses over eye-sore properties in some towns, another area where the Council has been taking action.

The council is committed to ensuring improvements are carried out to properties whose appearance is having a detrimental effect on their neighbourhood’s amenity and is aware untidy properties can have a negative financial impact on neighbouring businesses.  In significantly harmful cases we may be able to negotiate with owners of untidy properties in order to secure improvements. If negotiations fail, the Council has powers to undertake direct action to remedy the situation and even pursue prosecution.

If you feel your business is being badly harmed by the untidy state of a nearby property please raise a complaint on the Council’s website – go to www.denbighshire.gov.uk/planning and click on ‘Planning Enforcement’.

Businesses in town centres said their main concerns for the council to address were around traffic congestion and the availability and cost of parking.

The Council increased parking charges in April 2016, the first rise in seven years, to provide funding for much-needed investment in the county’s car parks.

This will include improvements to appearance and the replacement of pay and display machines with modern technology, offering more flexible payment options that improves the experience for visitors to our town centres.

The change to the parking charges was also used as an opportunity to better manage the usage of our car parks. The old parking tariffs resulted in many motorists parking for long periods in our short stay car parks, reducing the availability of spaces for shoppers.  The new tariffs encourage motorists parking for longer periods to park in long stay car parks, increasing the availability of spaces in short stay car parks.

In Prestatyn traffic issues at the Bridge Road/Gas Works Lane traffic light junction was raised as an issue and the Council has already undertaken work to optimise the timings of the lights.

A review of the timing and sequencing of the traffic lights to ensure they are still performing optimally is planned over the coming months.

Further survey questions on businesses’ training needs, which will feed into March for Business, found half wanted help with social media, just over a quarter with selling to the public sector and seven percent wanted help with exporting.

Over the past 12 months the Council has been offering free social media and e-commerce workshops for businesses and has recently produced new guidance to help local businesses understand the Council’s procurement procedures.

For results of the Business Survey 2016 click here