Only 35 per cent of Mittagong business owners surveyed were in favour of the proposed Mittagong Marketplace location, with 55 per cent preferring a Mittagong CBD site. Ten per cent of Mittagong respondents wanted the development elsewhere in the shire, but none said they did not want the development in the shire at all.

Support for the development on its proposed location was strongest in Moss Vale, where 37 per cent of respondents supported the proposed site and none were in favour of a Mittagong CBD site.

But 50 per cent of Bowral respondents did not support the proposed location in Mittagong and 40 per cent do not want the development anywhere in the shire.

The findings are included in the Wingecarribee Shire Business Impact Survey which will be presented to council's special meeting on the Big W development today.

Conducted by Scribe Connections, the study was commissioned by a Sydney advertising and marketing agency on behalf of a syndicate of local residents.

(Scribe Connections advised that the residents did not wish to be identified).

Scribe Connections received 188 responses from a random survey of 330 local businesses (60 in Mittagong, 210 in Bowral and 60 in Moss Vale).

Survey findings included:

* 69 per cent of all respondents believed the council should seek independent advice on the possible economic and social impacts of the development on the shire;