At risk and vulnerable to the negative impacts of recession

In his recent report to the Council, Rochdale Borough Council Leader Councillor Alan Taylor commented on a report by the Audit Commission, ‘When it comes to the crunch’ that identifies the different ways in which the public sector can support the community and businesses in a recession. The report also identifies districts like Rochdale as being “most at risk and vulnerable to the negative impacts of recession”.

Councillor Taylor concedes a borough like Rochdale will “suffer disproportionately in a recession” and sees a “challenging future” for the Borough as we come out of recession. He notes the Audit Commission report cites the Council’s action plan as an example of “best practice for forward planning.”

Part of the 'best practice' has included paying consultants to carry out a number of seminars aimed at helping local businesses cope with the recession; Rochdale Online booked on two of the courses* to see if they offered good advice and if they were a sensible use of tax payers money, our conclusion was the seminars may help the council to tick the Audit Commission’s boxes but they were poorly attended and offered advice which, though superbly delivered, was, in the main, of little use to small local businesses.

• *The first course, billed as ‘Ecommerce’, was actually ‘E-Marketing', which came as a surprise to those attending – the morning session had good sound advice for the small number of business owners present, however, the afternoon session began with the trainer explaining that search engine optimisation was a waste of time for small businesses with a small catchment area (most if not all of those in attendance) but went on to spend three hours explaining search engine optimisation “because I am paid to do so”.
• *The second course, basically how to write a press release and get it published, was a complete flop given that other than our reporter just one person turned up, ‘the chocolate lady’ who has started a part-time business from home making and selling chocolates.

The Council has also recently organised 'buy local, spend local' and jobs fair events at Rochdale Town Hall, and these have been very well attended. Rochdale Online attended and spoke to a number of visitors, asked what the Council could do to help local businesses, Jo Potts of True Serenity Holistic Centre said: "Use them, don't just talk about using them."

In his report, Councillor Taylor lists other strategies and it is fair to say they have been well received:

• Free parking after three in the town centre
• Town Centre Spruce Up
• Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Labour Goup Leader on Rochdale Borough Council, Councillor Colin Lambert welcomed the initiatives designed to boost footfall in the four township centres but warned that other areas should not be "forgotten" and "businesses in areas such as Castleton must also be helped to cope with the impact of the recession".