Local councils must do more to help small firms, one industry body has urged.
Simon Briault, a spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses explained that as councils make a large number of decisions that affect SMEs, the should take greater account of the impact they have.
He said: "The local council has control over planning decisions, and can be bullied by supermarkets into setting up huge out-of-town retail centres. We'd like them to be sterner on that sort of thing."
Mr Briault added that councils should also be making it easier for small firms to tender for local government contracts.
Authorities should also make sure that small business owners are aware of the reduction on rates they are entitled to, he concluded.
The Conservative Party recently urged local authorities to do more to protect small firms.
It stated that the "needs test", which allows councils to prevent the opening of out-of-town supermarket, should not be scrapped.
