'We must back the BID - or face bleak future' (From Gazette & Herald)

'We must back the BID - or face bleak future'

BUSINESS leaders in Malton and Norton have been warned that unless they back the new Business Improvement District (BID) initiative they face "bleak years" ahead.

The tough words came from leading estate agent and board member of the Malton and Norton Initiative Paul Beanland at a meeting called to trigger support for the BID scheme.

He said: "It is very important that this does succeed."

Businesses signing up to the venture will see some £85,000 returned to the towns for each of the next five years. The money, said Mr Beanland, could be used to fund campaigns and events and other schemes aimed at generating more business and boosting the local economy.

"If you don't get behind this scheme, there's no future," said Mr Beanland, a leading businessman in Malton for 35 years.

He was backed by Roddy Bushell, manager for the Fitzwilliam Estate in Malton, the town's biggest landowner, who said that since it was set up seven years ago, the Malton and Norton Initiative (MNI) had improved the economy. "The BID is the route to go. We have an opportunity but the ball is in the court of our businesses. If we don't do it, we shall go back to the days when we had no money, no power and no voice. If we can get the BID going, it will make a difference."

Simon Woollons, another Malton trader, also supported the BID. "It is a positive thing because we want to see the town grow."

Peter Mudge, the town centre manager, said Malton and Norton had the chance to become the first small towns in Britain to be designated as a Business Improvement District, an initiative set up by the Government through the business rates system. He said the precept on businesses would be 1.5 per cent of the business rate, with a maximum payment of £750. But 50 per cent of the estimated 400 businesses in the towns needed to support the scheme for it to succeed.

He believed the BID would result in increased income, a bigger pool of employees with more people wanting to move to the area, busier towns and external funding being invested in Malton and Norton.

The MNI aims to spend equal percentages in the town centres and industrial estates, said Mr Mudge, supporting marketing and projects.

Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, is making reimbursements to a maximum of £30,000 in six months to enable the BID vote among businesses to take place.

Details of the BID can be obtained from the MNI office in Castlegate, Malton, on (01653) 692999.

Updated: 14:36 Wednesday, January 25, 2006