BUSINESSES are being urged to take part in an online survey to help development a long term strategy for a seaside town.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will use the information from companies to help develop its local plan.

A number of different surveys have also been carried out over the past few weeks, including on-street shopper surveys, household telephone surveys and a survey of local businesses.

Earlier this month, dozens of people attended a public meeting at the Coatham Memorial Hall called by town MP Anna Turley to discuss ways of getting the town “back on its feet”.

Cllr Dale Quigley, cabinet member for economic growth at the council, said: “We want to hear from town centre businesses on a number of things such as business trends, and what they think affects trading performance.

“This is part of the evidence base for the Local Plan which will provide a blueprint for successful and thoroughly planned growth in Redcar and Cleveland.

“To get on track in achieving this we need a real understanding from people who do business in Redcar’s town centre day-to-day, so we would really appreciate the feedback.”

The responses will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be public information. However, a report will be prepared which incorporates the results of collective responses in order to provide a broad overview of business trends and attitudes in the town centre.

The deadline for completing the survey, which can be found at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Redcar-Business-Survey, is Friday, September 16.