by Trevor Sturgess

Kent firms have welcomed help for small and medium-sized businesses in the Budget and estate agents are celebrating help for first-time buyers.

Christopher Page, chairman of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and a partner with Girlings Solicitors in Ashford, said it was good to see the Chancellor recognising the important role that SMEs play in the economy.

The chamber has more than a thousand firms in Ashford, Canterbury, Maidstone and West Kent, many of them SMEs.

Mr Page said the £2.5bn package of help, in particular the Business Rate relief for smaller businesses and the doubling of the tax allowance for investment in new plant and machinery, offered the prospect of the type of practical help which SMEs need if they are to succeed in the current economic climate.

"Despite past promises of increased business lending from both the major banks and government, many businesses still struggle to secure the funding they need," he said. "The announcement of a Credit Adjudication Service recognises that and it is hoped will act as an incentive to banks to adopt a faster and more constructive response to funding applications."

But Mr Page warned that businesses would remain cautious about the economic outlook generally and the effect on them of other measures announced. "The proposed economies in public spending and the reduction by one third in the number of civil servants working in London, could have a significant effect on the local economy in Kent."

Meanwhile, a Kent estate agent has applauded the abolition of stamp duty on first-time buyer homes costing up to £250,000.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) claimed a major victory after long campaigning for a major rethink on stamp duty.

David K Evernden, chairman of Kent Estate Agencies, which has offices in Birchington, Canterbury, Whitstable, Tankerton, Herne Bay and Westgate, hailed the change.

Mr Evernden said: "For hundreds of first time buyers in our area, the dream of getting onto the property ladder was slipping out of reach, but now with help from family, lower property prices, mortgage interest rates and no stamp duty, this may have added a new rung to the property ladder, one within reach of hundred's of young families.

"The NAEA has long argued that stamp duty is a tax on aspiration that smothered the natural demand of the market and still believe that more reform is needed and there is more work to be done, but they applaud this decision "a major victory for first time buyers".