Gloucester City Council award for thinking big to help small business

Small businesses have given Gloucester City Council an award for its work providing help and support for entrepreneurs.

The Federation of Small Businesses gave it a ‘Highly Commended’ in the Best Small Business Friendly Support Programme category at its first-ever Local Authority Awards event.

The accolade recognised the programme established in the city in February 2017, which committed £62,000 for small businesses to access.

Business owners came up with proposals as to how they would like to use some of the money including ideas such as business rent support, paid classes for training courses, and business rates relief.

Through the programme, the council has been able to encourage more start-up businesses into the city and helped new companies move into permanent premises.

The presentation took place at Gloucester Rugby Club at the FSB’s awards event which featured councils from Gloucestershire and the West of England.

Councillor Paul James, leader of Gloucester City Council, said: “We are delighted to receive this honour for our commitment to supporting local small businesses. We will continue to work with business owners and enhance our reputation for creating a constructive, supportive environment for entrepreneurs.”

Sam Holliday the FSB Development Manager for Gloucestershire and the West of England said: “We were really pleased with the success of this and we were delighted that Gloucester City Council entered with such enthusiasm.

“The FSB judges all agreed that Gloucester thoroughly deserved their Highly Commended award for the efforts they have shown to support the city’s small businesses and that backing has certainly helped in a city that is a hotbed of entrepreneurial spirit.

“We can all see that Gloucester is going through some massive changes at the moment and it is vital that the small business community is at the heart of that to ensure the city remains a great one to set up and grow innovative, varied businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors. We look forward to working with Gloucester City Council in the future to help make that happen.”