According to organizers, Bill Avery of the Mudgee Business Association MBA) and Economic Development Officer for the Mid-Western Regional Council MWRC), Julie Robertson, the survey will start on Monday with telephone interviews.

“There will be two or three days of calls and all interviews will be over by the end of next week,” Ms Robertson said.

“It’s a chance for businesses to have their say and to have direct input into business growth in the region.

Mr Avery said he had received favourable feedback on the idea of the survey.

“Mudgee is a proactive place and is a town that wants to prosper so I am confident we will get a good representation of responses from across the business community.

It is expected that over 500 businesses will be contacted in the region next week. The Mudgee Guardian had a sneak peek at the questions this week and found the survey both user-friendly and straight forward.

The survey covers areas such as employees, markets and suppliers, business plans and decisions, the local environment and future business needs. Once the data has been collected it will give valuable information to the Council in terms of identifying opportunities for future business growth across the region and making more informed decisions about how Council can assist businesses to make the most of these opportunities.

And for the MBA, it will allow a more focused approach on the types of support services and business initiatives that would be valuable to the business community in achieving its goals and objectives.

The survey asks questions such as ’What percentage of your purchases do you estimate are sourced from suppliers outside the Mid-Western region?’ and ’What, if any, are the major constraints on the expansion of your business?’

All results are 100 per cent confidential and the responses will be analysed by the Western Research Institute at Bathurst.

If businesses would prefer to complete a paper based survey or conduct face-to-face interview, they should contact Julie Robertson on 63 782850 or Bill Avery on 63 727171.