Bassetlaw business owners to cast their votes as North Notts BID heads to ballot to secure second term

North Notts Business Improvement District (BID) will be going to ballot from June 2 to June 30 as its first five-year term comes to an end.

At a meeting held for business owners on Thursday, May 26, North Notts BID’s chief executive, Sally Gillborn, and board chair, George Buchanan, revealed the new business plan, which will come into force for another five years if ‘yes’ receives the majority vote on September 1.

Operating across Bassetlaw, the BID supports around 1,000 businesses with more than 1,200 hereditaments using money from an annual levy that companies are required to pay.

The levy is based on one per cent of business’ rateable value over a year, if over £12,000, and adds up to around £730,000 a year of which the BID puts 80 per cent towards projects, events, services, training and other activities that benefit BID member businesses.

The remaining 20 per cent is for BID running costs, including levy collection fees, premises, and the wages of the five full-time and one part-time members of staff.

Following on from its first term, North Notts BID has revealed its plans to continue providing its successful events such as the Worksop and Retford Christmas lights switch-ons, Party in the Square, Dinosaur Discovery Day and Food Fest.

These events have proved popular with residents and bringing in new visitors. In turn, the increase in footfall into Retford and Worksop gives opportunities to local businesses to make sales as well as creatively advertise themselves.

However, these events in the towns have caused divided opinions among some business owners based on the outskirts of the district, leaving some questioning the worth of the BID.

Sally Gillborn addressed this in the meeting, stating there were many ways businesses can benefit from being BID members, and that holding an event that would only benefit one business would not be a viable use of money.

However, after one rural business asked for a defibrillator for their employees, North Notts BID saw an opportunity to benefit several businesses and installed a total of 23 defibrillators across Bassetlaw’s industrial estates.

Businesses can currently benefit from several services, from free maintenance support services; free training courses, ranging from first aid to food safety; and a savings scheme to cut down on energy and water bills, which George Buchanan said has seen companies make back their levy fees.

North Notts BID also plans to set up an ‘Industrialwatch’, similar to Pubwatch and Shopwatch, which will aim to tackle vandalism and thefts in industrial estates through new CCTV and a mobile app where people can mark incidents to alert other business owners.

Sally said: “We are delighted with the overall reception that the BID has received since it was introduced to North Notts in 2017.

“As we unveil our plans for the BID’s next five-year term, we will continue to strengthen our existing offer as well as introducing new projects and services under our business voice, experience and destination themes.

“The business plan was developed in consultation with our BID members and, if successful in achieving a second term, we will build on these strong foundations and continue to help build a better future for North Notts.”

To find out more about North Notts BID, visit: https://northnottsbid.co.uk/