SORT IT OUT
By Julie Waters
TWO rival business groups vying to create Bangor’s first Business Improvement District have been urged to ‘work together’ to regenerate the city.
Bangor Chamber of Commerce and a separate group of business people are keen to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in the newly crowned seaside city.
But following months of growing tension between the two groups, the council has now stepped in, urging them to ‘work out their differences’ as it is ‘impractical’ to have two separate BIDs.
The aim of a Business Improvement District (BID) is to create a defined area in which businesses get together to form a company that invests in projects to boost footfall and revenue across the business community.
Hailed as a regeneration tool that provides multi-million pound investment, areas that already boast successful BIDs across Northern Ireland include Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, Ballymena, Newry and Strabane.
There has been discord between the two groups since the group of business people, including traders from across the retail, hospitality, arts, leisure and transport sectors, set up a BID steering group and unveiled their plans earlier this year.
It then emerged that Bangor Chamber of Commerce was not consulted about the proposal and is not part of the BID steering group. Discussions have taken place between the Chamber and the steering group, but these have not borne fruit, and recently the Chamber contacted the council to say it is keen to develop its own BID proposal.
At this stage, the council is working with the Department for Communities to ‘gain an understanding of the level of interest in BID within the borough’ and has held a number of information sessions across the borough.
However, according to a report presented to last week’s Place and Prosperity Committee, council officers have deemed it ‘unfeasible’ to support two separate proposals within the same areas of the city.
In a bid to resolve the current impasse between the two groups, the report recommended council officers meet with both groups to ‘encourage them to reconsider their steering group presentation’.
The report stated it was ‘unrealistic’ to try and get funding for two BIDs and that it would ‘be unfair to ask for council to choose between one proposal and the other’.
It can take up to two years to set up a BID, including developing a business case, consulting with all stakeholders and organising a ballot. If the BID plan is approved a formal board will then be set up and staff appointed.
Financed by a levy based on the rateable value of business properties within the BID, it will be run for and by the traders who set it up, with the aim of delivering a range of projects specified by members.
This could include practical street cleansing, graffiti removal, organising events or marketing campaigns, as well as liaising with public sector bodies such as the council, PSNI and Department for Infrastructure and raising additional funding for local projects.
Caps: Frank Shivers, President of Bangor Chamber of Commerce.
The steering group at the launch of the BID proposal in January.