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10
Jun 2021
Ripon votes to create Business Improvement District
Ripon traders have voted in favour of turning the city centre into a Business Improvement District.
BIDs have been set up across the country, including in Harrogate, as a way of creating safer, cleaner and better promoted city and town centres.
In Ripon, more than 280 businesses within a defined area will contribute to an annual budget of £160,000 for improvement projects.
Of the firms who voted during a ballot held over the last month, 80% were in favour.
The plans for a BID have been in the works since 2019 and will generate £800,000 over five years. This will come through an extra levy on top of business rates.
The BID has already won the support of Harrogate Borough Council which has agreed to lend £20,000 for start-up costs and will contribute around £30,000 over the five year period as a levy payer.
Councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development of the council, said the BID will allow businesses to “take control of their own destiny”.
Read more:
- Borough council figures show the number of vacant shop units has fallen
- Former Wrens store to reopen as Halls of Ripon
Now firms have voted in favour of the BID, a limited company will be set up with 10 directors drawn from the business community to manage the funds.
A number of local businesses have already expressed strong support for the plans include Abacus Smarter Accountants, G Craggs Ltd and Sterne Properties, as well as other organisations including Ripon Community House, Ripon Museums Trust and Ripon City Council.
A business plan, launched earlier this year, identified the BID’s priorities as street cleaning and maintenance, festivals and events, car parking, toilets, landscaping and tourism.
In a statement included in the plan, Richard Compton, BID chairman and owner of Newby Hall, said the city had the potential to become “one of Yorkshire’s great success stories”.
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