Kidderminster BID Update – October 2020
We’ve been busy here at Kidderminster BID over the past few months. We’ve extended the team, promoted the town centre and local businesses, and started working on some exciting projects.
Town Centre Rangers
We’re pleased to announce that two BID Rangers have been recruited to help make our town a cleaner, safer and friendlier place for businesses and visitors. Rebecca and Yasmin will join the BID at the start of November and they will be the eyes and ears of the town, picking up on any issues as they liaise with local businesses and shoppers. The Rangers will provide a uniformed presence and will be equipped a body worn video (BWV). The Rangers are not there to make arrests but they will be working closely with the police and local authority enforcement and will be a highly visible unformed presence within the BID area. Look out for the ‘Meet the Rangers’ in Exchange Place opposite the Town Hall on Thursday 19th November.
Radios & Communication
Building a business community, the new Rangers will be out and about in November visiting businesses to get your views on communications in town, they’ll be finding out what interest there is in:
- Town centre radios,
- A mobile phone App that can report incidents directly to the police and securely share images of known shoplifters thereby improving communication for both business watch and potentially a pub watch scheme if the need is identified
Kidderminster Countdown
Christmas isn’t going to be the same this year, but the BID will be working hard to make the town centre fun and festive. We’ll be encouraging businesses to display the #BackBusinessinKiddiTown new campaign to help encourage people to shop local at Christmas. We’re aiming to work with local businesses to reveal a countdown of shop window displays throughout the month of December.
The BID will support with a financial contribution towards window displays and we plan to breathe festive spirit into the town, encourage shoppers to buy local and do it in a covid-safe way that doesn’t involve large gatherings. If you would like to get involved contact alex@kidderminsterbid.co.uk or one of the Rangers in November.
Invoice Reminders
A number of BID levy invoices for the year have remained unpaid and we did not want to put undue pressure on businesses at the point of lockdown in March. An agreement was made to allow a period of 6 months for some recovery and the allocation of business support grants. Now that grants have been awarded by the local authority and the town has reopened, we are sending out reminders for the remaining unpaid invoices.
Walkabouts
The BID have started carrying out monthly walkabouts in the town. This is an opportunity to bring together the local council, police and interested businesses to highlight areas of concern and propose solutions with support from the BID. If you’re interested – join us monthly in different parts of the BID area – contact alex@kidderminsterbid.co.uk.
We’re set up on social media – follow us on 4 platforms and can you share on our Facebook any special offers you are currently running!
