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Business scheme plans meet resistance in town

Listen on BBC Sounds: Traders in Bridgnorth have mixed feelings over the prospect of the creation of BID

A move to create a new business group in a town aimed at increasing footfall has met with resistance from some firms over the extra cost.

Those behind the idea of a Bridgnorth Business Improvement District (BID) said it would also make the town safer.

BID schemes encourage businesses to work together more closely and also offers access to funding.

But some in the town said, amid the cost of living crisis, they did not why it was needed.

Helen Rutter, from Elegance Clothing Agency, said: "With the cost of everything that's rising, things are getting harder.

"So with us being put forward for the BID and having to pay another outgoing, I just don't want to be part of that."

Helen Rutter with long blonde hair is wearing a yellow jacket. There are items on shelves in the background.
Helen Rutter, from Elegance clothing agency, said it was "another charge that businesses in town have got to pay"

Businessman Johnny Themans, from the BID task group, said everybody had been written to, public meetings held and the scheme would raise £1m in five years to invest in the town.

The group said a collective voice was needed to thrive and three-quarters of businesses would pay less than £1 per day.

The scheme would involve 2% of a trader's rateable value, so if a shop paid £20,000 in business rates annually, the BID will cost an extra £400.

If traders vote it through, with a deadline of midnight on Thursday night, those paying business rates would have to contribute annually.

Ian Moore, of Wild Heart Bridgnorth clothing shop, said he voted against, adding: "I think what they're doing is basically the same thing the council should be doing.

"I don't see the point of paying for things twice."

Johnny Themans with grey hair has a brown coat and a scarf. Cars are parked in front of buildings in the background.
Johnny Themans said "we're just good people just trying to do more, that's all it is"

The proprietor of Whitburn Coffee House, Emma Rutter, who voted no, said she did not "know anything about it until the ballot papers come through".

"I think the lowest is £352 a year, which doesn't sound a lot... [It's a] drop in the ocean for certain big businesses, but not to us," she added.

Some firms said they had not received ballot papers.

Mr Themans said: "Getting round and speaking to everybody has not...been possible for us and we've gone into lots of shops and not everybody's always in there at that time.

"We don't know everybody in the town.

"I think some people maybe aren't tuned on to what's going on around them quite as much, so I think it's a bit of shared responsibility. We've really tried to get that out there."

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