yep
Rural Business Survey 2010
Sample survey covering parts of
Suffolk Coastal, Mid Suffolk and Babergh
September 2010
Prepared by the Research & Intelligence Group,
Transformation and Performance,
Suffolk County Council
For all enquiries and more information regarding the contents of this report, please
e-mail:
research@suffolk.gov.uk
2
RURAL BUSINESS SURVEY 2010
1. Background: Work on the Local Economic Assessment in Suffolk has revealed the
limitations of data sources in identifying businesses, especially small ones in rural Suffolk.
Many of these are micro, self employed businesses illustrating the creativity of local people
to find niche activities or services and provide valuable local employment. Suffolk County
Council and Mid Suffolk District thought there would be value in looking at what was
actually in a sample area of Suffolk even though it would not be possible to gross
information up to generalise about an area. It could however form the basis of a longitudinal
study, whereby the area is revisited in future years to see what has changed.
2. Purpose: To identify the range of small businesses on a selected sample of routes in rural
Suffolk.
3. Method: Two staff from Suffolk County Council drove down selected routes and stopped at
businesses to ask questions on the questionnaire attached at Appendix 1. Where dialogue
with an owner was not possible (due to size of business and no appointment, lack of
obvious access to a reception) basic details of the nature of the business was collected
from sign boards etc. A note of any public sector activities was made. Farms were not
visited but were noted if they had a shop. Photographs were taken of each business.
4. Routes: These were agreed with Mid Suffolk District Council as routes or villages of mutual
interest. Routes through rural Suffolk were selected, rather than whole village surveys to
give a cross section of businesses reflecting farm diversification and service distribution
(e.g. only hairdressers or pub for 10 miles).
Selected routes Miles
B1079 and B1077 Woodbridge to Eye going through Clopton, Otley,
Helmingham, Framsden, Debenham, Aspall, Rishangles, Occold 21.8
B 1113 Stuston to Old Newton
Going through Finningham, Cotton and Rickinghall 18.0
B 1115 Great Finborough to Great Waldingfield via Bildeston 14.0
B1078 Bildeston to Needham Market
Going through Nedging, Great Bricett and Barking 7.9
Total 61.7
The survey was undertaken on 18 August 2010.
3
5. Survey results
5.1 Introduction: A total of 160 businesses were noted on the survey date over 61.7 miles
following the routes set out above. Only 6 questionnaires were completed following
interviews with owners/employees. This was because places were not open, too busy
(retail activities at Cotton), or not set up with receptions for the public (e.g. Hubbard
Refrigeration, Huntingdon Life Sciences). A full survey of the businesses (list of name and
activity and photographing what was there) was undertaken in Debenham because this
followed the main street. Even just taking photographs and writing down business names
drew attention in Debenham, resulting in people stopping us in the street asking what we
doing. A full survey of Eye was not undertaken mainly due to time and the thought that a
survey of the industrial estates would be helpful. The questionnaires completed were of a
range of businesses and gave an insight into employment levels. It was thought better to
cover the miles to get a good sample, noting down company names and activities so they
could be checked out back at the office.
In the office the company names were entered into a spread sheet and the web used to get
exact addresses to allow mapping plus descriptions of activities to enable them to be
assigned to a Standards Industrial classification (1997). If companies had their own web
sites these were noted. This was time consuming taking 2 days to get the basic details of
160 businesses. It was clear that more time would enable more of the questionnaire
questions to be answered, for example how long the firm has been established. However
company web sites do not usually divulge much about employee numbers. A check was
started as to whether companies were traceable on the FAME company database.
The outputs we now have is a spreadsheet of businesses along the roads set out in (4) with
their address, postcode, web site if they have one. This can be used to examine change at
a later date. Also a series of maps showing the distribution of businesses colour coded by
sector with photographs of the front of businesses have been produced.
Findings
5.2 By Route: Table 1 sets out the findings by route, looking at the distribution of the
businesses across the 1997 SIC order. Overall 36% of the businesses were in retail, 14%
manufacturing; 12% accommodation and food (mainly pubs) and 9% in the motor trade
(mainly garages). There was a good range of businesses though as only the only sectors
with no business were Information and Communication and Finance. Schools were not
included in the survey but it should be noted that Helmingham Primary school is on the
B1078 located next to the Old School House Nursery.
Some of the interesting findings were:
The big companies not on industrial estates: Employing 100+
Hubbard Taylor Products refrigeration solutions at Otley – design and manufacture of
commercial cooling equipment for vehicles and supermarkets.
Clearly a link to freight and Port of Felixstowe and offering a range of skilled and
professional jobs. It is the largest single employer in the Otley area.
Huntingdon Life Sciences Occold Research Centre – Chemical testing facilities with high
security, controlled entrance.
These companies would employ a range of professional and skilled people.
4
Table 1 Number of Businesses by route
Woodbridge
– Eye
B1079
B1077
Stuston –
Old Newton
A143 &
B1113
Gt
Finborough
– Gt
Waldingfield
B1115
Bildeston
to
Barking
B1078 Total %
Miles of road 21.8 18 14 7.9 61.7
1 : Agriculture, forestry &
fishing (A) 5 2 7 4%
2 : Mining, quarrying &
utilities (B,D,E) 1 1 0.5%
3 : Manufacturing (C) 16 2 5 23 14%
4 : Construction (F) 4 1 1 6 4%
5 : Motor trades (Part G) 3 3 3 5 14 9%
6 : Wholesale (Part G) 2 3 5 3%
7 : Retail (Part G) 26 19 10 2 57 36%
8 : Transport & storage (H) 2 2 1%
9 : Accommodation & food
services (I) 4 3 10 2 19 12%
10 : Information &
communication (J)
11 : Finance & insurance (K)
12 : Property (L) 3 3 2%
13 : Professional, scientific &
technical (M) 4 3 1 8 5%
14 : Business admin. &
support services (N) 1 1 0.5%
15 : Education (P)
16 : Health (Q) 1 1 2 1%
17 : Public admin & other
(O,R-U) 2 3 2%
18: Other 4 2 3 9 6%
Total 78 35 24 23 160
Businesses per mile 3.6 1.9 1.7 2.9 2.6
Figure 1: Type of businesses
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
1 : Agriculture, forestry & fishing
2 : Mining, quarrying & utilities
3 : Manufacturing
4 : Construction
5 : Motor trades
6 : Wholesale
7 : Retail
8 : Transport & storage
9 : Accommodation & food services
10 : Information & communication
11 : Finance & insurance
12 : Property
13 : Professional, scientific & technical
14 : Business admin. & support
15 : Education
16 : Health
17 : Public admin
18: Other
5
Specialisms: Herbs at Eye – a group of businesses prepare and market fresh herbs. Two
are located on the Mid Suffolk Business park at Eye, Fresh Herbs Ltd and Rosemary and
Thyme involved in packaging and distribution whilst linked to the latter is other another
location at Chestnut Farm, Eye where Camstar Herbs is also located who’s main business
is growing parsley (350ha) and other herbs and processing the crops. Also at Chestnut
Farm is Stark Naked Foods, producer of pesto. A further possible link to the group is
Steng Ingredients – Symrise
on the Mid Suffolk Business Park , manufacturers of
fragrances and flavourings but the large unit did not look as if it was in active use. Brown
and May a fresh fish supplier and Langton Ltd, makers of fresh desserts are also on this
business park and involved in food preparation.
Jewellery tool importing on the Tollemache Business Park at Often in Babergh. There were
two companies involved in the importing of precision tools, EMC services and ASIC of
Switzerland, sharing a unit.
Savill Cases – specialist bag manufacture located on Rickinghall Business Park centre
Willow Farm
SRL Sound Research Laboratory at Great Waldingfield –this is a specialist sound testing
company with a big testing unit located in a converted barn.
Linked to the land/agriculture: businesses growing things – in addition to the herb
companies mentioned above Grainseed Ltd at Langton Green advertised themselves as
maize and oil seed rape wholesaler suppliers, involved in growing crops. Howard
Nurseries at Rickinghall grow over 2 million plants annually and provide them wholesale to
independent retailers, nurseries and local authorities. Bacton Potash Nurseries is a
smaller business specialising in growing fushias.
Tools/equipment businesses related to agriculture included PG Horticulture Ltd on the
Mid Suffolk Business Park provides wholesale crates and pots etc to the horticultural
industry; Permastore tanks and silos manufacture glass-fused-to-steel tanks and silos for
farm, municipal and industrial waste, potable water and bulk solid storage. An interesting
link to this activity is the need for specialist warning vehicles to patrol the roads to enable
the large tanks to be transported.
Country sports: Saddlery at Grange Farm King Saddlery & Country ware; Boundary
Farm Equestrian centre at Framsden offering a cross country course and accommodation
; Horse box and trailers Agroco Trailers at Great Bricett; Firearms at Workwear Ltd on
the Eye Airfield.
Processing food: Aspall Cyder; Eye Airfield Abattoir; Vion, Eye in addition to the specialist
ones mentioned above
Small – one person: Cane workshop – Rishangles came to our attention as a
questionnaire was completed (see below)
Manufacturing: There was a large range not just linked to agriculture
on the Mid Suffolk
Business park: KPS Petrol Pipe system making fuel pipes; Wrightfield,
Engineering
6
design of bespoke food processing equipment and integrated conveying solutions;
Garward Engineering – metal machining and fabrication.
Creative: Few examples of what you would call creative activities were found along the 61
mile route. This is not a single SIC order but things we thought would be classified as
creative were the Cane workshop at Rishangles; Carters Ceramic designs, a pottery at
Debenham; Spiral gallery, selling contemporary jewellery; Stuston Signs and designs;
AVW Controls Ltd on the Willow Farm Business Centre at Rickinghall – this produced
rigging and scenery motion control design and manufacture; Lucy Art gallery at Finbow’s
Yard, Cotton. Notably nothing “creative” like an Art gallery was found on the routes in
Babergh but some activities linked to creative activities were found on the small industrial
estates. Located on the Crowcroft Road estate at Nedging Tye Calypso is Roast and Sons
ltd, a basket ware, zinc ware and glassware wholesaler supplying florists and plant
growers; on Tollemache Business Park at Offten was EMC Services and ASIC of
Switzerland supplying precision tools to jewellers and watch makers and also Philip Stamp
wholesalers of haberdashery, textile linings to retail, manufacturing and education.
Oddities: Great Bricett business park – this was signed to the public from the main road
but when you got there was a gate and sign saying no public access. Research in the office
revealed that the green corrugated hanger buildings were owned by Endex Archives who
provide Document storage facilities. The buildings were purchased from the MOD some
time ago and the company markets secure storage. No advertisement of the company was
evident and it gave the impression it was still in military ownership with signs all round the
perimeter of the park saying No public access.
Vacancies: It was not possible to do a
full survey of the numbers of empty
units seen on industrial estates. A
review of the companies advertised
on the Rickinghall Business Centre
Willow Farm entrance sign in Mid
Suffolk revealed many could not be
found in the units – in some cases
others were found but back in the
office no record of 5 of the
companies named could be found:
• IW Moody Book services
• Clover leaf Ram services Ltd
• Legal Library services
• St James Place Partnership
• The Woodturner
Whilst the following are on the web
but have another location address:
Leisure –tek (East Anglia) Ltd
Malthouse Security Services
Of the 17 units on the estate only 3 companies appeared to be present although some
occupied more than one unit.
7
Four large units were clearly vacant on the Mid Suffolk Business Park.
Microbusinesses: There was not a lot of evidence of micro business. The Cane Workshop
is an example in Rishangles and Curtains by Cristina, obviously based at a home, in
Cotton.
Tourism: There was not much evidence of specialist tourism linked businesses with the
exception of Monks Eleigh where at Bridge Farm Barns, there is a group of 5 businesses
very much orientated to all year round tourism type trade: Tea room Corn Craft Gift shop;
Wildflower shop; Black Barn Toys and Games; The Summer House; and
Marlborough tiles. In Mid Suffolk Boundary Farm Equestrian Centre at Framsden also
has 2 holiday cottages.
5.3 By District: Table 2 looks at the businesses by District.
Table 2 Number of businesses by District
Total Suffolk
Coastal
Mid
Suffolk
Babergh
Miles of road 61.7 6.2 33.6 21.9
1 : Agriculture, forestry & fishing (A) 7 7
2 : Mining, quarrying & utilities (B,D,E) 1 1
3 : Manufacturing (C) 23 1 17 5
4 : Construction (F) 6 5 1
5 : Motor trades (Part G) 14 1 5 8
6 : Wholesale (Part G) 5 2 3
7 : Retail (Part G) 57 6 40 11
8 : Transport & storage (H) 2 2
9 : Accommodation & food services (I) 19 8 11
10 : Information & communication (J)
11 : Finance & insurance (K)
12 : Property (L) 3 3
13 : Professional, scientific & technical (M) 8 7 1
14 : Business admin. & support services (N) 1 1
15 : Education (P)
16 : Health (Q) 2 1 1
17 : Public admin & other (O,R-U) 3 2 1
18: Other 9 1 5 3
Total 160 9 106 45
Businesses per mile 2.6 1.5 3.1 2.0
Excluding Debenham (26)
2.3
There was a noticeable contrast between Districts, particularly Babergh. It was very clear
there were far fewer businesses along the roads in Babergh and these were largely
confined to pubs offering food and garages. Although the survey is small, even including
the business parks there seemed to be a lower density of business in Babergh and a
smaller range that did not include much linked to agriculture. As already seen above there
were some quite interesting companies operating including 5 involved in manufacturing:
TMJ interiors – Corporate, financial, residential tailor made joinery interiors near Bildeston
8
Kuda (UK) Ltd – Fibre glass skills making aerodynamic hoods for HGVs, at
Crowcroft Road Industrial estate, Nedging Tye
Landfill Systems Maintenance ltd – designs, manufactures, installs and commissions
landfill gas extraction, pumping, venting and flaring systems also at Crowcroft Road
Industrial estate, Nedging Tye
Barking Forge – an old forge metal specialist
Sandblasting sign co – Sandblast timber panels, granite sign production also in Barking.
There did seem to be a poor range of businesses in Bildeston. Although much smaller than
Debenham, the lack of shops made it appear to lack vibrancy. Travelling along roads in
Babergh gave the impression of extremely tight planning control over business activities
and their location, with the preference to them going on Industrial estates.
In contrast Finbow’s Yard, Cotton in Mid Suffolk was a much more organic development. It
contained a range of different size and shape units offering a broad range of retail activities
– 11 in all ranging from fireplaces, café, Art Gallery, building suppliers, garage, domestic
appliances, furniture, gas and boiler maintenance, cycle shop and mobility and care
equipment. Immediately opposite was plant centre, hair salon and gift shop. It certainly
operated as a local service centre, busy, popular and flourishing.
Finbow’s Yard
Cotton
In Suffolk Coastal on the B1078, the outskirts of Woodbridge there did seem to be an over
spill of land hungry activities e.g. Wyevale that had extensive car parking, Brafe
Engineering and the Vehicle Surgeon with 6 bays for working on cars and extensive car
parking. Clearly these were servicing the needs of Woodbridge residents and providing
9
jobs for local people. Wyevale is well positioned for passing trade from the A12. Grange
Farm shop just a bit further up the road also mentioned visitor trade.
5.3 Questionnaire findings: The responses to the 6 questionnaires are summarised in
Appendix 2. The key points emerging were:
• Surprising numbers of part time employees in the farm shops. Grange Farm Shop all
18 employees are part time covering 7 day opening. King Saddlery employee 6 part
time and Otley village store and PO 7 part time.
• No internet coverage at Grange Farm means the businesses do not have their own
pages and rely on local advertising.
• All of the shops visited were aware of the attraction of local produce but some were
far more proactive offering a wider range than others.
• Conversation with the owner of the Cane workshop suggested that setting up your
own business could run in the family.
• The shops had been on their sites for long periods of time – over 50 years. They
have expanded their selling ranges in most cases.
5.4 Maps: The maps show the distribution of businesses along the roads covered by the
survey plus some photographs illustrating different types of activities.
6. Conclusions and possible future actions
6.1 Good range of business types found distributed through all 3 Districts areas surveyed.
Some are very large and could be encouraged to engage more in their local communities
for example sponsorship for sports teams, be asked to be honorary members of Parish
Councils to engage in integrated community development, join up on recycling activities –
very relevant to developing the new localism agenda.
6.2 Differences between Districts have been noted and could have implications for future
policy as District Councils merge services. There are good examples of the vibrancy of
rural communities due to the range of activities that have been permitted. Service
honeypots like Cotton clearly help reduce the length of trips to larger shopping areas.
6.3 Small business/micro run in the family. The long running existence of family businesses
demonstrates that entrepreneurial spirit can run in the family and has potential to spawn
more new small businesses. However things change over time and new start ups need
current advice on how to set up. Targeting information to existing businesses with this in
mind could help kick start more activity.
6.4 Target creative? The Local Economic needs assessment workshops with Districts during
2010 suggested there was a lot of hidden creative activity out in the rural areas. Not many
creative activities were found on the routes surveyed. Perhaps artists, craft specialist etc
are hidden away in private housing not advertising their existence from their homes but
exhibiting in specialist venues. There may be scope for more creative activity particularly
linked to tourism that could be encouraged thought community development.
10
6.5 Manufacturing. We already were aware that manufacturing was important in Suffolk and
this survey of rural routes illustrates the range, diversity and world class nature of what is
there. On average 12% of jobs in Suffolk are in manufacturing. Our rural survey picked up a
higher proportion (14%), often in very specialist activities, linked to agriculture, food
processing but also in more generic activities such as pipe manufacture and metal
machining. At the moment these companies appear to have weathered the recession. The
importance of manufacturing in rural Suffolk locations should be more widely acknowledged
and thought given to how Local Authorities can be seen to be supportive and encouraging
as it provides skilled jobs.
6.6 Celebrate the unusual? The collection of companies working with producing and
processing herbs on the Mid Suffolk Business Park is worthy of wider acclaim and is
something Suffolk can be proud of.
6.7 Sustainability. There was a definite contrast between shops although all seemed to
acknowledge and value local food sourcing. Grange Farm is outstanding and has a lot it
could teach other shops. Clearly there is a turnover of shop owners and those new to the
area could be targeted with local ideas for food products by EDOs, shop associations or the
Chamber of Commerce to help them build up their businesses and reduce food miles.
6.8 Rickinghall Business Park Centre Willow Farm sign. This would appear to need
updating to reflect the businesses that are actually operating on the Business Park. This
could be passed on to TWgaze to action.
6.9 Encourage new business by targeting existing to help support the next generation, just
graduating from university etc. This could be considered through the Chamber of
Commerce as they have links to existing businesses and knowledge of advice sources.
6.10 Internet coverage in rural areas. Much is already being done to raise the profile of
broadband needs in rural areas. The implications of not having access to the internet
means that work has be done on setting up pages off site (this is what is happening for
large companies with foreign owners) or there is no internet advertisement and different
modes of advertisement has to be employed. King Saddlery rely on the Suffolk Show and
the Cane Workshop leaves details with antique shops. Some are doing very well without
having the internet access but in the short term micro businesses could be discouraged
from setting up unless some co-operative advertising mechanism is available.
11
Appendix 1
Rural business survey 2010
Name of business:
Address:
Tel:
Activity:
How long on this site?
Why did you locate here?
Do you have Internet access here?
How many do you employ?
Full time
Part time
Who are your main suppliers and what do they supply?
Where are your main markets?
Local people
Suffolk
Elsewhere UK
Abroad
What is the main mode of business transport?
Own car
Own Delivery vehicle
Post
Name of respondent:
12
Appendix 2: Questionnaire responses
Name
Business
activity
SIC Employees
Address
Post-
code
Comments
Web
site
Internet
access
How
long on
site?
Why
locate
here?
Suppliers
Main
markets
Business
transport
King
Saddlery &
Country
ware
Saddlery
and clothes
for horse
riding, Kings
pet food
Retail 6 part time
Grundisburgh
Road
Hasketon
IP13
6HN
Advertise by word of mouth
and Suffolk Show
No No
23
years
Owner
lived in
area & no
of stables
locally
Various
Local,
Suffolk,
Essex,
Beccles
None
Grange
Farm Shop
Food
produce,
painted
furniture
commissions
Retail 18 part time
Grundisburgh
Road
Hasketon
IP13
6HN
Use local advertising and food
tasting event (in Aldeburgh
Food and Drink Festival
24/9/10 to 9/10/10 Local
suppliers cont.Cakes Wickham
Market; St Peter’s Brewery;
Chickens Sutton Hoo; Coffee
Earl Soham
No No
This
owner
15
years;
farm
shop 50
years
Took over
established
farm shop
Grundisburgh
apples; Bread
Woodbridge;
meat various
Cratfield,
Worlingworth
& Brundish;
Cherries
Sudbourne;
Veg Ufford
small holder;
Local
potatoes
Local,
Suffolk,
Visitors
Own car –
deliver to
elderly
Wood
Farm
Kitchens
Kitchen
design and
fitting
Retail 4
The old Barn,
Wood Farm
Otley
IP6
9NS
In converted barn. Working out
back of barn. Spoke to owner.
Moved to Suffolk from Essex
2003. Originally in Debenham
Yes
Yes 3 years
Various.
Bought
granite from
China
Suffolk
2 liveried
vans
Otley
Village
Store, PO
and garden
supplies
Hot pies,
make own
rolls, wine &
spirits, food,
birthday
cards, PO,
garden
plants &
seeds.
Grows seeds
Retail 7 part time Chapel Road Otley
IP6
9NT
Not that much local produce
http://www.rural-shops-
alliance.co.uk/images/otley.pdf
Yes
This
owner
11
years
Shop
already
established
Londis cash
and carry in
Ipswich
Local,
passing
trade,
builders
Own
delivery
vehicle
for older
people
Cane
Workshops
Cane,
seagrass
seating
renovating
old chairs &
anything
cane
Manu-
facturing
1
Nuholme,
Eye Road
Rishangles
IP2
3JZ
Started in Debenham at Deben
Rush Weavers. They closed &
moved. Got Enterprise
allowance scheme start up for
1 year. Daughter looking to
start up in creative music and
needs help.
No
page
Yes
16
years
Since
1984
Moved
here 1982
when got
married
Wholesalers
Fred Alders
crafts.
Rushes from
Holland; cane
from Kuala
Lumpa
Suffolk
Advertise
with
Antique
dealers
Own car –
deliver to
elderly
Old
Newton
Village
stores
Village shop,
fresh bakery
products,
newsagents
Retail
2 plus
paperboys
Old Newton
Stowmarket
IP14
4EQ
Limited amount of local
produce.
No No
This
owner 3
days
previous
owner
10
years
Rural area
like
previous
place in
Cambridge
Fresh bakery
from Palmers
Bakery
Haughley;
Cash & carry
Bookers;
Specialist
salesmen
Local
Own car
older
people
13