Rochdale highlighted as one of the worst performing towns for small businesses in the country

A report from the Centre for Cities released has identified Rochdale as having one of the lowest small business performance scores in the UK. The report also reveals that Rochdale had 13.6% of businesses closing during 2010-2013.

The Centre for Cities’ annual Small Business Outlook report provides a health check of the performance of small business enterprises throughout the UK.

The report shows data from throughout the recession period and into the recovery, which highlights massive regional imbalances. Places including Cambridge, Edinburgh and Brighton are more likely to have better performing small businesses, than places such as Rochdale.

Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, Alexandra Jones, said: “The disparities in small business performance tell the story of Britain’s uneven economic recovery.

“The cities hit the hardest during the recession had fewer firms adopting high-growth strategies, and these places continue to lag behind other parts of the country in terms of employment and productivity.”

Mark Widdup, Director Economy and Environment at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This report focusses on 64 cities and towns in the UK, and not the whole of the UK. It does not include our neighbouring boroughs of Calderdale, Oldham and Bury. On most indicators Rochdale ranks around the middle of those 64 towns and cities and not the bottom.

“We are not aware of an overall measure of small business performance in the report and nothing in it suggests that Rochdale’s small businesses are performing poorly. In fact, according to the report, private sector employment growth in our borough is the highest in the North West and Rochdale has the highest proportion of small to medium businesses in the region which provide training for their staff.

“Our business closure rate also compares favourably with other boroughs in the North West, although we are obviously keen to reduce this further. We offer a range of support for small businesses and people looking to start up a business in our borough. This includes access to a dedicated growth advisor and small business start-up advice from our partners at Blue Orchid.”

Commenting on the Centre for Cities report, Matthew Kershaw, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said:  “Whilst it is disappointing to see that Rochdale has performed poorly on the High Growth measure, derived from scores on their product marketing strategies, it is encouraging to see that so many Rochdale based SMEs have invested in their future by training staff in the last year, coming tenth in the country in this regard.

"As a Chamber of Commerce with a strong belief in the benefits of innovating, exporting and training, we are keen to work with Rochdale’s businesses to improve their standing in both these areas.”

The report calls on the Government to provide more targeted support to towns such as Rochdale, such as investment in infrastructure and education, to help bridge these regional imbalances and encourage a more efficient recovery.