Sunday 23 January 2011

Morecambe's empty shops and businesses

Imagine you are the owner of a transport business. Let's say you have a dozen lorries and on average ten are used every day. Now let's say that every journey out of the area costs £10 more because you are not sited near the motorway. Finally 80% of your journeys are totally out of area. What this means is that £80 per day is going down the drain because of the site of your business.

If you are setting up a new business then there is no doubt that you will set it up near the motorway. If you have an existing business then you can't help where you are and it will cost you to move, let's say £10000. If you think your business will survive three years in the present economic climate then it is worth moving. The trouble is that I have made up this business and all these figures, and how long you survive is down to your particular business and your particular figures.

I received some information about local transport in Morecambe suggesting that business would not be helped by a link road. There was a lot to the websites to which I was referred and a few blogs may follow, but I couldn't find the evidence to conclude that business would not be helped by the new road. I have written this before in a blog but Morecambe is in an almost unique position. The peninsula has terrible road links and that is why we are near the bottom of the league when it comes to empty shops, but it also affects any business with links outside the area.

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