BUSINESSES and traders in Wellington could soon be asked to come together to discuss ways of improving and promoting the town for everybody.

Town council chief executive Dave Farrow told councillors the idea was to hold a twice yearly forum for local business representatives to meet and talk with them.

And Cllr John Thorne, who is a former chamber of commerce chairman, told an economic development committee meeting: “I am very conscious of the fact that we no longer have anything like a chamber of commerce in the town.”

He questioned whether traders and businesses would be able to commit to being involved in a new chamber-style group.

But he said: “We could set up a meeting to ask them and I am sure some businesses would come, but we would not know how many.”

Cllr Thorne said it would be a positive step to try to engage more with local traders as the ‘business community could tell us so many things’.

He said he would support the idea in principle of holding a relaxed and informal event with businesses ‘a couple of times a year’.

Cllr Keith Wheatley said he was chairman of the former Wellington Business Association which had been created out of the defunct chamber of commerce.

He said: “The world of retail has changed so much over the years.

“Shops do not have a lot of staff these days and people are keen to get home at the end of the day.

“They do not want to sit around chatting.

“I am broadly in favour of this, but trying to run something that meets regularly and brings businesses together would be an awfully big ask.”

Mr Farrow said he would ‘go away and come up with some ideas’ on how, or if, a forum could be developed for businesses and traders to be involved.