It’s a ‘Yes’ for Oswestry Business Improvement District
News from our partners Oswestry Business Improvement District (BID) Group
Businesses in Oswestry are celebrating following the announcement that the Yes vote has been achieved for the Business Improvement District (BID), securing £1.5 million of funding for the town.
68% of votes cast voted in favour of the BID by total number of businesses, and 72% of votes cast voted in favour of the BID by Rateable Value.
Ian Follington, Chair of the Working Group which co-ordinated the development of the BID Proposal and Business Plan, said:-
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the working group members who have given freely of their time and worked hard over the last 18 months consulting with local businesses and stakeholders to develop the business plan. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support and funding of Oswestry Town Council and Shropshire Council. Oswestry BID could not have reached this point without their assistance. We would also like to thank our BID consultants, Partnerships For Better Business, for their patience and hard work throughout.”
Now Oswestry BID enters a new phase of activity in preparation for the start date of 1 April 2018. Businesses will pay an annual levy and this collective pot of around £1.5 million over the next five-year period will be ring fenced and invested in promoting and developing business in and around Oswestry. The current Board of the BID company will put together a transition plan from a working group to a functioning BID. As part of this they will contact BID members and begin the process of electing new Board members. The group would like to talk to any BID members who may be interested in joining the Board and helping successfully implement the Business Plan.
Ian said:-
“We are all very excited about the potential for Oswestry BID and would like to thank Oswestry businesses for their support and assure them we will deliver against the business plan as voted for in the ballot. We look forward to working together to move Oswestry forwards to make it recognised as a great place to be, as we all believe it deserves to be.”
