Business Retention and Expansion Final Report - City of Brantford

35Local CommunityThe local community section of the survey outlines the attributes of the area that make it a desirable place to dobusiness. Businesses were asked to rate a variety of factors associated with business operations, as well as comment onthe economic development program in the community.Overall, nearly two-thirds of firms (64%) know that the local community has an economic development plan, while 33%are unsure and 3% believe such a plan does not exist. Of these respondents, the vast majority (90%) believe that theplan is either being implemented effectively or do not know. Approximately half (49%) of area businesses feel that thelocal municipality is taking an adequate role in business and economic development, while 30% are unaware of what isbeing done and 21% think more can be achieved.Using a scale of excellent, good, fair and poor, firms were asked to rate a number of factors associated with doingbusiness in the community. The top five factors of doing business in the community are quality of life, support from localresidents, access to markets, access to suppliers and availability of utilities. Conversely, the bottom five factors includemunicipal taxes, water and sewage capacity, availability of transportation, availability of appropriately zoned land andthe local permit process. Table 12 outlines all of the factors and the respective ratings they received.Table 12: Factors for doing business in the communityFactorRating (Percent)Excellent Good Fair PoorQuality of life 26 61 11 2Support from local residents 20 57 16 2Access to markets/customers/suppliers 17 65 16 3Access to suppliers 16 70 10 3Availability of utilities 13 67 14 6Support from local businesses 12 61 22 5Access to training facilities 10 58 28 3Labour costs 7 64 25 4Cost of construction 3 56 37 3Size of local market 6 67 22 5Access to research and development 7 56 32 5Municipal by-laws 6 54 33 7Transportation costs 3 60 29 8Land costs 6 56 29 9Telecommunications infrastructure capacity 13 58 19 10Availability of skilled labour 8 51 30 11Support from municipality 7 49 32 12Cost of leasing space 5 53 30 12Local permit process 6 48 31 15Availability of appropriately zoned land 6 49 28 16Water and sewage capacity 9 51 21 19Municipal taxes 5 33 38 24“Good location/proximity with southern Ontario.” - New Credit Business Owner