AS the somewhat embattled owner of a small business, Ovenu, which has provided a professional oven-valeting service to homes across the region for 18 months now, I feel compelled to put pen to paper.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of any town and if the Government really wants to help us and to boost the local economy, then it needs to find new ways to support us.

However, while the Government has its failings (and the recent budget is a prime example, leaving us facing yet further rises in fuel costs), it is my view that the continuous onslaught of negativity that is putting the small business community most at risk.

We all know that the country, and the world at large, has its problems. From growing unemployment to businesses going under, repossessions and shop units standing barren and empty, we can’t escape from it.

And against this constant drip-feed of crisis, disaster and depression it is easy to see why people may become too scared to move, and why some purses are now shut tightly – even when they do not need to be.

The good news is that as someone who is working in the community dealing with clients from every walk of life on a daily basis, I can offer some reassurance to other small businesses that people are still spending, people are still ‘planning ahead’.

And while you may have to work a little harder for your daily bread, if you are on top of your game and providing a quality service, then normality should be prevailing.

Some things may never be quite the same, there will be a greater degree of caution and perhaps prudence may be the order of things for some time to come, but if talk could get back to a more ‘business as usual’ focus, then I think it will do most of us a lot more good.

PAUL CLARK Ovenu Warrington