OSSETT HELP OUR HIGH STREET: Town centre shops will fuel the
Small business contribute 50 per cent of UK turnover, and 60 per cent of their profits remain in the communities they serve.
That means the survival of Ossett market and the town's unique mix of shops is vital to help beat the recession, Britain's largest organisation representing small businesses has said.
Janice Haigh, Wakefield branch chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "If we don't help small businesses survive, we are going to have nothing left."
She said shop local campaigns like Help Your High Street had a track record of protecting small firms for the communities they serve.
In 2008, the FSB launched its Keep Trade Local campaign in South Yorkshire after many businesses were hit by the aftermath of severe flooding.
Mrs Haigh said: "What was happening was that a lot of the building work that needed doing was going to firms from all over the UK, and even from Europe, not from the local area.
"We launched the campaign to help local firms. It was very successful and has now spread to a national campaign."
Viv Campbell, who runs specialist sweet shop, Chocoholics, in Ossett's Seemore Shopping Centre, said there had been a positive response to the Help Your High Street campaign.
She said: "We are hopeful it will draw people's attention to the wealth of shops on their doorstep."
Small businesses employ 13.5m people in the UK, making up 58 per cent of the entire private sector workforce.
The FSB, which has more than 1,300 members in the Wakefield district, is campaigning on their behalf for action on business crime, free parking in town centres and help to keep local post offices open.
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Weather for Wakefield
Saturday 19 May 2012
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Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 10 C
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