Southport Reporter.

One of Southport’s leading businesses said:- “We just cannot run a business without Sefton placing more and more bills on us. The town is falling apart. If we do not act soon we will very quickly go like Morecambe and turn into a ghost town. Our staff’s motivation is at rock bottom and this is reflected onto our customers, who also feel the strain. If the council does not back up local business, both old and new, the economy of the town will go into depression.”

Sefton this week added insult to injury, to the already struggling Sefton businesses, by proposing to increase the waste disposal charges, that most businesses feel are already unfair. This increase to an unpopular charge has been seen by lots of businesses as a negative move, with most saying the same thing “Why do we bother running a business?” With small businesses closing all around the town (Southport), we spoke to some of them, who said:- “We are just sick of being treated as cows in a dairy.” Other small businesses, ranging from well-established to new and up and coming ones added to the song of discontent by repeating the tone. One of the more well known new small businesses told us “Sefton is a Joke. A miss mash of stupid ideas from the 70’s, just like tower block flats. They have long lasting implications on the environment and the people they interact with. It is yet another bill from ‘Good Old Sefton’. Thanks once again for making the New Year such a promising start. It might be small increases, but it is one that will push quite a few to the wall in the end.” Another added “Wake up Sefton, if you don’t stop adding extra chains around our feet, we will not be here next year. Then what will you do?” One of the more traditional shops, who do not normally comment, spoke to us saying “It is sad. We would love to put our name to the comments, but we feel that we will just get a hard time. Most people are now frightened to speak out. If you do, you get excluded and the council just puts you on the black list. It is disgusting that these charges should go up so soon after being introduced. The bin bags are sub-standard and split, so you often have to get an inner one. This makes more waste and also adds yet more cost to us. The rates have gone up yet we see no real help. Where is all the cash going?” At the same time as the owner said that, the manager added “It is interesting that it says ‘PLEASE NOTE – The proposed charges for the financial year 2004/5 are subject to approval by the Council.' In bold at the bottom of the proposed charges page yet the letter contains agreement sheets to sign for invoicing?”

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