STEVE Park, head of Warrington and Co, talks success in his latest column.

There seem to be mixed messages in the media regarding small business finance. The banks keep insisting that it is getting easier but the business community says the opposite.

Some Government pressure has resulted in banks increasing their lending to the mortgage market, which has rocketed in recent months, but this pressure has so far had limited impact in expanding the amount of credit going into the business sector.

While large businesses are able to access the growing market for debt financing in the bond market, small businesses are still reliant on high street banks, and specialist finance \ leasing businesses, which have become significantly more cautious in their lending practices since 2008.

Small firms consistently report that credit is either refused or is offered at unaffordable high prices by the major lenders. There is widespread consensus that this is constraining growth despite the signs of recovery.

Hopefully continued Government pressure this year, along with improved confidence in in the corporate banking sector, will see an ease in finance availability for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Plans to offer greater tax efficiency for crowd-funding platforms to provide small business finance recently announced by the Treasury might indeed help.

At Warrington & Co we remain focused on our mission to drive growth in the borough and help facilitate and release growth potential where we are able.

As the stats verify, Warrington is in the premier league of business start-ups and we want to assist and fuel their growth where we can.

With this in mind Warrington & Co., co-hosted a very successful networking event in London last month with the Warrington and Cheshire LEP, with the specific aim of connecting local businesses seeking finance to venture capitalists wishing to invest.

Such was the success that we are looking to try and repeat the event again later in the year. I’ll keep you posted.