THE HONEYMOON period for new Thurrock Council Chief Executive Graham Farrant looks to be over as a major business organisation has slammed him for failing to support local business.
Essex FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) has challenged the Leader and Chief Executive of Thurrock Council to meet them to discuss the way the authority engages with small businesses in the Borough.
South West Essex FSB Chairman, David Miles said: “When the new Leader of the Council was elected Essex FSB wrote asking for regular meetings with him and after an initial meeting we are still waiting for further meetings to be held; on 05 August 2010 we wrote to the new Chief Executive asking him for a meeting and we are still waiting for a reply.
“For a council which publicly claims to be supporting small businesses it is strange that they are ignoring the country’s leading business organisation which represents 213,000 small businesses nationally and more than 4,000 in Essex, Havering and Redbridge.
“It is time for the Leader and Chief Executive to stop hiding away and start meeting with business organisations – the previous administration held regular meetings and achieved a great deal as a result; other councils across Essex hold regular meetings and gain big benefits from working in partnership.
“Our challenge to Thurrock Council is to meet with Essex FSB and let’s start working together to benefit the small businesses which are the life blood of Thurrock’s economy.
In judging tender documents how much would people accept the scoring of a commitment to using local (and generally, small) services, in comparison with overall contract cost; 10%, 20% of the overall marks. If most tenders are judged on cost taking 40% of the overall marks, then the location of the winning company is bound to be trivial in the final analysis.
Larger organisations have a much greater ability to absorb and reduce overhead costs than small local compainies. Hence they are much better placed to win contracts than small local companies. For FSB to vote for a capitalist system (such as offered by the Coalition Government) and then whinge on about the elimination of local business smacks of stupidity. There were a number of articles on this website earlier this year in which the FSB made clear their support for the conservative agenda. The requirement to minimise costs is a direct result of that approach.