Visit to Dunoon
In partnership with the Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Business Gateway Argyll & Bute, we hopped on a ferry and took part in a business engagement event in Dunoon. The event was attended by many local businesses including some FSB members. It was great to be there and spoke to the attendees, highlighting FSB’s recent activities and achievements including winning the U-turn on the Deposit Return Scheme and some rates relief scheme. This event was part of the wider business engagement exercise by HIE and Business Gateway Argyll & Bute, and we plan to take part in as many events as possible. You can check out the event information here.
Networking, networking
We hosted two in-person and one virtual networking events in September, with over 60 members and non-members attending these events. It’s always fantastic to see many business owners and self-employed people coming together and expanding their networks. Our popular events programme in October will be as usual – Lanarkshire in-person event on 17 October and Glasgow in-person event on 26 October. Please feel free to come along and hopefully see as many of you as possible!
Glasgow Low Emission Zone – time to review?
Over the course of September, we heard from a lot of members about the impact Glasgow’s LEZ is having on their business. Many told us about decreases in footfall and turnover, whilst some said they needed to change the way operate their business because of changes in deliveries and access to the city centre. While our members recognise the importance of the scheme to public health and keeping the air clean in the city centre, it seems that small businesses are disproportionately affected by the LEZ restrictions and some of them feel they were negatively affected. We will work with our members and the Glasgow City Council to see if there is any need for review and also for enhanced support for small businesses that are based in the LEZ and also that need access to it.