Braintree BID

A local group of retailers and business leaders have been working for the last few months on a proposed Business Improvement District for Braintree town centre. This initiative has already been successfully applied to many town centres around the country including Bury St Edmunds and Bedford. In essence the idea is to work with retailers, office occupiers, market traders and other commercial businesses, within a defined geographical area and to agree on a clear strategy to improve the town centre and increase footfall. The Braintree group, now known as Braintree Town Centre BID, has secured funding to enable a limited company to promote the concept. During the next six months businesses within the defined area will be invited to attend open forums to debate the potential aims and objectives of the BID (see events). It is thought that these will include improved security, cleaning, signage, and marketing as well as less obvious items such as savings on insurance and waste management. Having promoted the idea and set out clear objectives with a full five year financial plan, the companies within the BID area will be asked to vote on whether they want to endorse the BID. Funding for the project will be generated by a BID levy which will be charged to all rate payers in the area and will amount to 1.75% of the rateable value.