Where have all the decorators gone?

Local traders don't appear to be interested in painting the town red - or even white and blue for that matter.
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That’s the claim of town mayor Angela Birchall who says painters and dectoraters are not bidding for work.

Speaking at last week’s town council meeting, Coun Birchall said she was in the process of visiting as many town-based business as possible.

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She is trving to promote an East Lindsey District Counil backed scheme which provides funding for business owners to improve their shop fronts.

Coun Birchall said many owners were not aware of the scheme and she was trying to encourage them to come forward - particularly after complaints about the poor condition of some town centre shops.

She revealed owners of one shop had told her they wanted to re-paint the front of their premises, using money from the scheme. However, they were told that to qualify for any cash, they had to get two separate quotes.

Coun Birchall said that despite their best efforts, they had only been able to secure one quote - meaning the work might not get done.

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She told councillors the shop owners had approached ‘five or six’ firms requesting a quote but none had replied.

She said: “I think that is shocking. They (the firms ) are not interested in the work at a time when everyone is claming there aren’t any jobs around.”

Coun Birchall confirmed a number of businesses had indicated they would apply for funding.

However, she admitted one problem was that several businesses rented their premises and landlords appeared reluctant to consider the scheme.