A SCRUTINY committee should look at the plight of struggling traders in the smaller towns and villages across the district, according to one of its members.

Councillor Dominic Fear said he was alarmed to hear how difficult trading conditions were for shopkeepers after two groups spoke out at a full meeting of Bradford Council.

The groups from Saltaire and Ilkley had handed over petitions on Tuesday, calling for the council to re-think a ban on A-boards placed on public pavements, which it is trialling in four areas of the district this year.

Disability groups had welcomed the move, saying advertising A-boards pose a hazard to blind and partially sighted people.

But the traders’ groups highlighted just how close to folding many local businesses were, and feared the ban would send some over the edge.

Cllr Fear (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said: “They came to the council with a specific concern about A-boards, but they were saying, ‘We are having lots of difficulties, lots of businesses are looking to close and we are really struggling.’

“They are having a very hard time.”

Cllr Fear, who sits on the regeneration and economy overview and scrutiny committee, said he wanted it to look into the difficulties such traders face and any ways the council could alleviate these, describing small businesses as “the lifeblood of our economy”.

He said he had already spoken to the committee chairman, Councillor Adrian Farley, about the idea.

Cllr Farley said the committee was already planning to look at Bradford city centre and Keighley town centre, so could also incorporate a look at other towns and villages.

He said: “It was a good idea so I will incorporate it into the work we are doing.”

One of the petitioners, Helen Rhodes, of Ilkley Business Forum, said she would welcome the opportunity to speak directly to councillors about some of their concerns.

She said: “That sounds fabulous. To get anybody on side would be a benefit, from where we feel we are at the moment.”

And Ros Seton, who spoke on behalf of traders in Saltaire, also welcomed the suggestion, saying some councillors had been making “every excuse under the sun” not to come and speak to them.

She said: “I just felt I was banging my head against a brick wall. It’s really desperate at the moment, it really is.”

The traders said issues the committee could look at included the levels of rents and rates that businesses had to pay, as well as the ways in which shops could display signs advertising what they offered inside.