Do council’s do anything but try to stuff business up?

Do council’s do anything but try to stuff business up? Why is it all I ever read is how a council is making life almost impossible for a business? Then a week later I suspect the same council will be telling you how they are trying to help struggling businesses and the poor by offering them £1.50 grant that they will have to pay back but only after filling in pages and pages of paperwork only to be told at the end that they do not comply for any payments. Sod the workers who may end up with no job if the business closes. Then people will tell you that life will even be better if we have even more of these people with local power such as elected mayors on £200k who can have endless meetings telling you they are making things better, even though things seem to get worse.