Truro firms to decide future of city's 'Business Improvement District'
7:00am Wednesday 20th June 2012 in Truro
Voting papers have now gone out to more than 400 businesses in Truro city centre asking them to vote for or against renewing its Business Improvement District.
More than 100 votes have already been cast within the first three days of voting.
Since 2007, Totally Truro, the not-for-profit company behind the BID, has been delivering projects from funding Christmas lights to putting on cultural festivals and providing floral displays, using a pot of money from a levy on business rates Businesses have until 5pm on Thursday, July 12 to return their papers.
Neil Scott, BID manager, said: “We have achieved some incredible things since Truro’s BID was first established in 2007. We were the first location in Cornwall to develop a BID as a sustainable way of funding improvements to town centres and now there are four in operation with more being developed.”
As a direct result of the feedback from Truro businesses, the Totally Truro team has structured its future business plan into four projects.
These are; events, marketing, attractiveness and accessibility and 'Getting the Best for Business'.
These will be funded by a one per cent levy paid by businesses whose premises have a rateable value of £12,500 or more. The overall pot will yield around £305,000 each year for five years. The renewed projects will run from October 1 2012 to September 30 2017.
Neil Scott added: “Now is the time for businesses to vote to ensure the BID continues.
“We will be on hand to support businesses in making sure they understand the voting form, offering further information about the five-year proposal and ultimately, making sure they get their ballot papers submitted by 5pm on 12 July.”
Accompanying the ballot papers being distributed to those businesses eligible to vote is a ballot statement, which explains how the ballot works and briefly outlines the projects.
For more information about Truro BID’s renewal ballot, contact the team on 01872 273999, email neil.scott@totallytruro.co.uk or go to the website www.enjoytruro.co.uk
