Businesses in Poole Town Centre attended consultation meetings across a two day period, to have a say on what they want to see from the proposed Business Improvement District (BID).
Organised by Poole Town Centre Partnership, the consultation meetings provided local businesses with the opportunity to meet their area representative, hear their peers’ views, as well as giving them the chance to share their opinions on what they would like to see in the BID business plan that will help the town prosper over the next five years.
Retailers and business owners attended the meetings from across the designated BID area, which includes the Quay, High Street, Dolphin Shopping Centre and all streets within these locations. A host of ideas were discussed for the business plan including:
– Looking at ways to improve the public realm, keep the streets cleaner, and rationalise some of the street furniture
– Enforcing regulations to improve security in certain areas of the town
– Offering an incentive scheme to Poole BID employees to encourage them to shop in the area
– Improving signage to help increase footfall from one part of the town to another
– Arranging a variety of good quality events which are distributed equally over the town, and increasing marketing activity to pitch Poole as a destination place to visit
– Creating identities for the BID zones, but also linking them together to present a united approach for the town
Commenting on the consultation meetings, Jonathan Sibbett chairman of Poole Town Centre Partnership Board, said: “These meetings provided us with a great opportunity to hear what the business community of Poole want to see from their BID. It was refreshing to see people come forward from each of the BID zones. So many ideas were discussed and we will now take all of these and identify the key priorities for each area to progress the business plan. A BID scheme could generate £330,000 per year, with potential to double that through match funding – this money could help us to achieve so much over five years to bring new benefits and prospects to Poole.”
General manager of Marks & Spencer in Poole, Huw Moore, added: “We think it is important for the businesses in Poole to get behind the proposed BID to ensure that their voices are heard to shape the future of the town centre. It is only by uniting together that we can make a real difference.”
The BID Steering Group will now prepare a draft business plan which will be presented at the Dolphin Shopping Centre on Thursday November 12. BID voters can attend this meeting to comment on the plan.
Businesses can still register their views through the online survey at poolebid.com/have-your-say
For further information, to contact your area rep or to fill in the questionnaire and give your views please visit the new website – poolebid.com/ or contact: info@poolebid.com
Keep up-to-date with news and give your views via Twitter: https://twitter.com/BIDPoole and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poole-BID/1656653974565020