Almost two thirds of respondents to Westmorland and Furness Council's first business premises survey are confident about the next 12 months.
Almost a third of responding businesses reported an increase in turnover in 2023/24 from 2022/23, whilst almost a third again reported that their turnover remained the same.
And one fifth indicated that they expected to employ more people over the next 12 months.
These and other findings from Westmorland and Furness Council's first annual business premises survey will be used to help ensure views and insight from the business community informs future economic support strategies and programmes.
Information gathered will also make sure that the voice of the business community informs the development of the Westmorland and Furness Local Plan, setting out our strategy for land allocations in a way which ensures the right types of employment and housing development, balancing the economic, social and environmental impacts.
The council's Economic Development and Regeneration team launched the survey at the end of May, with everybody who owns or operates a business in Westmorland and Furness asked to contribute.
Councillor Jonathan Brook, Leader of Westmorland and Furness Council and Cabinet Member for the economy, said: "Many thanks to everybody from all parts of Westmorland and Furness, who took the time to contribute to our business premises survey. This is the first such survey we have undertaken as the new council and the insights shared will be invaluable to us.
"Our economic development and regeneration team work across the Westmorland and Furness geography. Working together and supported with these results, they can pool their specialised local knowledge and take a holistic view of the whole of Westmorland and Furness. This ensures that our support strategies and programmes make a really positive difference. It also helps target support where it is needed most, to help our businesses and our local economy."
The survey was delivered to 7,993 business premises on the Westmorland and Furness Business Rates Register, with 1,539 online and posted responses, which equates to a 19.5 per cent response rate. Of the responses received, 54.3 per cent were from businesses in the South Lakeland locality, 30.5 per cent from Eden and 14.2 per cent from Barrow, which is representative proportionally of the percentage of actual business premises in each locality.
The findings included that:
- Nearly two-thirds of responding businesses (65.6 per cent) reported are either fairly or very confident about the next 12 months;
- Almost a third of responding businesses reported an increase in turnover in 2023/24 from 2022/23, whilst almost a third again reported that their turnover remained the same. Similarly, 26.7 per cent reported a decrease in turnover compared to the year prior;
- Over half of businesses identified rising prices as an obstacle to business growth, whilst 42.53 per cent indicated that energy/fuel costs were an issue;
- One fifth of responding businesses indicated that they expected to employ more people over the next 12 months, with almost two thirds reporting that they expected the number of people employed by them to remain the same;
- 19.68 per cent of responding businesses indicated that they would expect their premises needs to change in the next three years, with the majority (15.85 per cent) of these anticipating the need for more space by means of moving to larger sites, purchase of additional sites, or expanding their existing site;
- Almost half of the 303 responding businesses that expect change to their premises indicated that this was because their current site was too small, and a quarter of businesses reported that their premises were no longer suitable for reasons other than space.
Almost half of the responses were from businesses in the hospitality/catering and wholesale/retail sectors, with limited companies, independent soles traders and charity/trust/non-profit/third sector the main types of businesses responding.
Over two thirds of responding businesses reported that addressing climate change and shifting towards more sustainable practices was very or fairly important to their business.
Other issues raised included parking, business rates, availability of grants/funding, high streets/town centres, and lack of affordable housing.
Click here for the full results of the business premises survey.
Click here to go to our Invest in Westmorland and Furness website.