Witham firms vote for BID status
WITHAM businesses has voted to adopt Business Improvement District status (BIDs) following a long campaign to get the scheme adopted.
LEAD
Witham wins BIDs status
63% of firms vote in favour of improvement scheme
WITHAM businesses has voted to adopt Business Improvement District status (BIDs) following a long campaign to get the scheme adopted.
A ballot of firms within the Witham industrial areas resulted in a 62.5% vote in favour of the scheme, with ballots cast representing 76% of the rateable value of those voting.
The result, announced yesterday, means that both the majority of business ratepayers in the proposed BID area and the majority by aggregate rateable value were in favour of the scheme.
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The directors of Witham Industrial Watch, which has worked towards achieving the status over the last five years, thanked all those who took time to vote in the Business Improvement District status ballot; as well as those who helped distribute information, visited companies and handled the numerous enquires.
Witham Industrial Watch directors will now be meeting to develop the action plan and to ensure that the views of the majority on the industrial estates are put into action.
“During the last few weeks there has been a marked increase in criminal activity on the industrial estates and we hope that once the BIDs proposals are put into action the level of crime will reduce,” they said.
Braintree MP Brooks Newmark expressed delight at the result.
“I know many businesses are struggling during these difficult economic times, but it is to our local industries, the bedrock of our local economy, that we must look to not only survive this recession, but to also emerge stronger out of it,” he said.
“BIDS status for Witham will provide an excellent base from which our businesses can not only work together to rejuvenate our local economy, but also act as a catalyst for a national recovery.
“However, we must not stop here. BIDS status is important for our local businesses, but we must also think about we can all do to help them through this recession and, to these ends, I would encourage everyone to support local business through buying what they can locally.”
In the ballot, 97 of the 155 who voted supported gaining BID status. They represented �6.7million in aggregate rateable value out of a possible �8.8million aggregate rateable value of all those businesses who voted.
