Weston BID

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The Weston BID Business Plan is Now Available On-Line CLICK HERE

A Business Improvement District (BID) is a collective way for businesses to improve their trading environment, through planning, influencing and paying for additional services to enhance their bottom line.

These services can include:

Additional policing or wardens Improved collective marketing and events Improved street cleaning and litter collection Specialist Business Advice and preferred supplier schemes Night time economy promotion and safety initiatives

Questionnaire now closed We have had an excellent response and your views have formed the bases for the Business Plan. Thank you to all that have replied. Let us know your views and what Weston REALLY needs..! You can download our questionnaire that offers you an opportunity to put into priority order those crucial components for a successful town. We need all businesses to complete this and to return it to us as soon as possible - please post back to our office, give me a call and I will collect or better still, bring it with you to one of your street meetings. When we have gathered all the feed-back from you and your colleagues we will analyze the priorities, develop solutions and put them into a BID business plan. This will be the scheme that you will vote on next year; so it is really important that you make sure your views count.

Weston BID Area

In fact almost any initiative that business sees as being important to their town can be included.  All these services are in addition to and not instead of those already provided by the local authority.

How will it work in Weston?

Over the coming months you will be invited to tell us what you think Weston Town Centre needs to really help its economic prosperity.

When we have collected all this information we will put together a Business Plan for the next five years which will detail and cost up a scheme to deliver those additional services that you have identified for the town centre area.  You will then be invited to vote on that plan.

To win the vote we need to achieve a majority of yes votes and they need to represent a majority of the rateable value of the businesses who vote.

If the vote is positive we as a company will be legally bound to deliver that BID Business Plan and we will be accountable to you.  Similarly you will be legally bound to pay the levy for the lifetime of the BID.

Who Pays?

When we have drawn up your business Plan we will price up the cost for the services that you have requested.  We will then make a calculation based on your rateable value (RV) for an equal percentage contribution from everyone to pay for scheme. For instance the total RV for the town centre area we have identified is circa £18.2m.  If we ask every business to contribute 1.5% of their RV per year to this pot we will have an annual sum of £273,000.

Individually this will equate to a small contribution, collectively it can make a great difference.  We will be able to make that pot of money grow by using it to attract match funding from a variety of sources 

Why do we have to pay more?

To get the services you want, and to have control over them, you will need to contribute to the scheme.  All the services in the BID scheme will be ADDITIONAL to what is already provided.  At this time there is significantly less funding coming from either local or central government to cover what is already being provided – so it really is a question of self help.

This is your chance to make your voice heard and to influence how the town is managed.

How do you know it works?

There are now over 80 BIDS in towns and cities across the country.  Bath, Bristol, Taunton, Barnstaple, Torquay, Dorchester and Plymouth have successful BIDS in the South West.  They are improving the vitality of those locations in a way that puts them ahead of their competition.  The additional services ensure that their streets are really clean all the time, the police or wardens work with businesses, and marketing spend is co-ordinated and controlled to maximize its benefit to business.  Consumer feedback in those BID areas has been very positive – happy customers = better business.

What next?

We will be contacting you over the coming months to ask you to tell us what you think Weston businesses need to improve your business.  Please do your best to respond.  We really do want this to be your scheme.

All being well we shall invite you to vote on the scheme in February/March next year.  If you decide it is what you want, we will start work delivering those vital additional services in May 2012.