FSB urges local authorities to protect their communities

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has launched a Small Business Manifesto to press local authorities to champion small businesses ahead of local elections in England on May 1.

The UK’s biggest business organisation will focus its local election lobbying on the campaign to Keep Trade Local, which seeks to protect small businesses from unfair planning laws, draconian parking restrictions in town centres and the breakdown of local economies.

The Small Business Manifesto also has detailed proposals for local government on small business issues including:
• Finance;
• Procurement;
• Regulation;
• Transport;
• Crime; and
• Planning.

Roger Culcheth, FSB Local Government Chairman, said:
“Small businesses are the backbone of local communities and it is about time local councils recognised this in their policies.

“Planning decisions that benefit supermarkets and out-of-town retail parks, draconian town centre parking restrictions and the closure of thousands of post offices are contributing to the death of over 2,000 small shops every year.

“We believe local government in England could be doing much more to safeguard the future of small businesses. The local elections on May 1 offer a perfect opportunity for prospective councillors to demonstrate they are serious about the future of their local communities.”

Confidence building

I’ve just done a short course on confidence building. One of the main points that came across was that if you want to build your confidence the place to start is with number one – looking after yourself. If you don’t eat properly/exercise /get enough sleep etc then you won’t get off the starting blocks. Although I’m not particularly lacking in confidence now (I used to) I haven’t been doing enough exercise and could do with losing a bit of weight. So I’m off to the swimming baths this morning and will probably go for a jog this afternoon.

Today I am going to really start looking after myself and hopefully will reap the benefits soon. You won’t find me down the gym – I hate gyms. I used to be a member of a gym in Wrexham, and one day I was running on the treadmill looking at a brick wall, smelling other people’s sweat and I thought why am I doing this? I live right by the Erddig Country Park for heavens sake! So I started running through the park – It gets a bit muddy at times but it’s all part of the fun. Much nicer scenery and best of all FRESH AIR! Haven’t been out for a while but today I WILL!

I have a quote though I can’t remember who said it “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” Whatever you want to achieve in life start today. Visualise one year from now when you are looking back, so glad that you took those first steps. We are only on this planet once so we might as well make the best of out time here. Now where is that swimming costume…

The Wrexham Blogger gets blogging…

Okay…there are quite a few people following this blog even though I’ve hardly added anything to it…so…from today I promise to start adding more content on a regular basis. Comments will be very welcome and suggestions for content (especially when I start running out of ideas). Lets get blogging…