North Notts BID CEO says ‘no two days are the same’ as team strive to help businesses thrive

Set up by Worksop-born Sally Gillborn, North Notts Business Improvement District has come a long way since being voted in by businesses in 2017.

Coming from a background of 30-years in economic development and marketing, Mrs Gillborn, a qualified business advisor, has brought her passion to Bassetlaw to aid businesses in their journey to success.

As the name suggests, the BID’s purpose is to deliver additional services to local businesses using funds levied from participating businesses.

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

As a result, Mrs Gillborn said the BID has invested more than £3.7million into Bassetlaw, with the installation of CCTV cameras and defibrillators in industrial areas such as Harworth, free training courses for workplaces, plus a range of community events from North Notts Food Fest, Party in The Square and the Christmas light switch-on events.

Mrs Gillborn, who was recently awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours List for her tireless work in improving economic prosperity across the district, said her efforts come from a genuine passion in helping businesses to thrive.

She said: “I’ve just got a passion for the area, it’s just so diverse, no two days are ever the same.

“The BID is a business improvement district, so it's to make the area better. It's about responding to the needs of the businesses. It’s very much about skills, very much about crime reduction, and very much about increasing footfall.”

The organisation, which is the second largest BID in the country, secured its second five-year term back in July, where Mrs Gillborn said it would continue to deliver on its three pillars - The Business Voice, The Experience and The Destination.

Mrs Gillborn, of Mansfield, said: “I think the ballot was a really good exercise. We are a beast of a BID, but we have our systems in place.

“The business plan is based on what businesses identified and what they want and what they see for the future, as well as input from our partners.

“We have had good dialogues with our BID members. We do react - if somebody's not happy, we'll go out and speak to them, and a lot of the time it's just that they don't understand what they can get for the levy.

“We are confident that at least 95 per cent of our levy payers can at the very least recoup the levy.”

The BID, which recently moved to new premises in Worksop, has received its share of criticism, but Mrs Gillborn said the team will “plough on” to do their best to make the area a better place for businesses to thrive. An opportunity on the horizon includes supporting the council as it delivers improvements to Worksop town centre with the £20m secured from the Levelling Up Fund.

Mrs Gillborn said: “Once the council has done that, it might be that we can arrange events that have entertainment down one end of town. There's lots of different things we could deliver that will add value.

“We're not a regeneration organisation, we don't have the funds for that. The £700k pot is not a lot when you spread it over the district, however, we can put the cherry on top.

“Worksop is no more unique than many other towns in the UK. There's very few towns where all the shops are thriving.

“If things are changing, then we've just got to embrace that change and encourage people back in the shops. They will be different because a lot of the big nationals have moved out, and that's not exclusive to Worksop, and that's not anything that Worksop has done wrong.

“Very few businesses are thriving at this precise moment, but I think those that plan to succeed rather than purely survive are the ones that you'll see turning it around.”

George Buchanan, chair of the board, said: “We've got a plan here that's been put together by the business community, and we're going to make it happen.

“So with all the variables, ranging from the war in Ukraine, to energy prices to interest rates, all of which are beyond our control, this is something which we will deliver locally, and it's about Worksop, Retford, Harworth, Tuxford, it's about our villages, it's about North Notts.”

Mrs Gillborn added: “We're just human beings who are passionate about what we do.

“We are proactive, but we are also reactive. The whole team is passionate about doing our best for the area.”