Business plight is serious says Crawford

Businessmen have made it clear that the difficulties are created by ever increasing rates; falling footfall and uncertainty regarding planning issues.

Obtaining planning permission for a major development in Lisburn seems to be dogged with difficulty and hugely disproportionate delay which is seen as a red card to potential investors.

Members of Council need to end their Jekyll and Hyde approach to Council finances.

The Mayor and all those Council members accompanying Mr Wilson and Mr Kennedy were cheer-leaders for the second largest rate increase in Northern Ireland and refused to listen to arguments that a 4% increase was way above the anticipated rate of inflation for the current financial year.

There is no point in shedding crocodile tears for our businesses when already in this Council term we have seen the suggestion that ratepayers should buy i-Pads for Councillors; financing of seats at a £150 per head dinner and now we are to spend more ratepayers money celebrating our 10th Anniversary as a city. How can decisions like these give potential tenants of our vacant shops any confidence whatsoever? What is needed is a freeze on Council rates.

Last year’s Mayor, Cllr Brian Heading called off his Mayor’s Dinner as he felt that it would be wrong to incur such large, unnecessary expenditure when businesses and ratepayers were struggling to make ends meet. What change in our economic circumstances this year justifies Ald Leathem re-instating the dinner?

Council needs to show the business community that we take their plight more seriously. Do Councillors have anything more to offer other than annually increasing rates?

Councillor Ronnie Crawford