Small business owners say the county council are “shockingly out of touch” with their needs and have signed a petition asking for a small business champion. 

More than 100 local businesses in Oxford have signed the petition, which calls for the council to listen to their needs more and to address their concerns about the council’s low traffic neighbourhood (LTNs) scheme and other traffic measures.

It also urges the authority to appoint a small business champion to give them a voice in the council.

Some small business owners have said that they feel their perspectives have been “overlooked”, but the council say that none of their policies are designed to “inhibit their growth”.

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Linda Elms, owner of Hot Diggity Dawg, a mobile dog walking business in East Oxford, presented the petition at the Oxfordshire County Council meeting on Tuesday, November 5.

Linda Elms (Image: Oxford Business Action Group) In her speech to councillors, she said: “At the moment, none of us feel seen or heard by the council. We’re feeling let down and ignored.

“Unless we’re lucky enough to have a supportive councillor where our business is based, which is very rare. We have no voice.

“Business owners often don’t live where their business is based so councillors don’t bother with us because there’s no vote in it for them.

“Successful small businesses are vital for economic growth, but we feel unsupported. Not only that, but you dismiss our views.

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“What we need is huge change in the council’s attitude to us. We need collaboration. We need cabinet members to come and visit us in person.

"We need a Small Business Champion with the relevant experience and a representative in each shopping area of Oxford.”

Commenting before the council meeting, Jenny Wells, a mobile hairdresser, said: “The council didn’t come to us to ask our opinions about their transport restrictions even though they’re causing complete chaos and making mobile traders like me drive 100s of miles further a year unnecessarily.

 “We feel completely overlooked. The council is shockingly out of touch with the way we live our lives.”

(Image: Oxford Business Action Group) Bernadette Evans, a spokesperson for Oxford Business Action Group, said: “Many business owners in Oxford – especially SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] business owners with a shop front, and mobile businesses – are concerned about the impact that Oxfordshire County Council’s policies are having on them, causing them a great deal of anxiety.

“Every one of the hundred plus business owners who signed the petition did so enthusiastically, and in the hope that doing so would prompt a change in attitude to them from the county council.”

Conservative councillor Eddie Reeves, leader of the opposition, submitted a written question asking if the leader of the council, Liz Leffman, would appoint a small business champion.

Ms Leffman’s written response stated that the council would consider appointing a small business champion after they had reviewed the structure of OxLEP (Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership).

When approached for comment, she said: “It is in everybody’s interests for small businesses to succeed for the good of our local economy.

“None of our policies are designed to inhibit their growth, indeed by seeking to tackle the well-known congestion problems experienced in the county we are trying to help everyone.

“I speak as someone who has run a small business for many years and who recognises the importance of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“Councillors listened with interest to what the petitioners had to say at the full council meeting.”

The council will respond to the petition within ten working days of the meeting.