This is a good article that will take you through events chronologically from when the BID was proposed, through ballot and how it was eventually shut down befor ethe end of it’s 5 year term. No opinion or judgement, just the state of play and facts of the situation.

Click on the following image to read the article.

As the following article says;

“Chairman Peter Conisbee told tonight’s annual meeting that the troubled organisation was to be wound up due to lack of support. The shock announcement was met with loud cheers and a round of applause from the 100 or so people present”

‘The businesses in the town have spoken and the inevitable conclusion is simple, this BID is not working.

Click on the following image to read the article.

The following article is written by Paul Reach, who funnily enough was the person who first proposed and pushed the BID development process along. Seems he blames everyone else for it’s failure to operate properly as a BID company, and naturally he doesn’t put any blame at his own feet for pushing his Business Plan on the businesses in the first place aided by the BID Consultants, The Mosaic Partnership, and their usual underhanded tactics.

Mr Roach even has the balls to defend his Business Plan as not being a problem, saying;

“We believe it is impossible to judge the legally established BID because so little of the BID Plan was delivered by the BID Company. So the opposition to the BID continuing was actually in our view a vote against the BID Company not against the BID Plan.”

However as the above article tells us part of the problem was the Business Plan in the first place, as confirmed by the BID Chair;

“Mr Conisbee admitted the BID had made some serious errors, particularly in the beginning regarding the levy levels and confusion over geographical boundaries.”

“He said the idea was create a slimmed down version of the current BID but with lower levy levels, possibly slightly different geographical boundaries and a more realistic business plan.”

“In short, our view is that this plan remains unviable”

Click on following image to read the article.

So what does Dartmouth BID tell us?

1. A BID doesn’t get off to a good start if the levy payers are not really behind having a BID. Once again the BID Consultants Mosaic will have aimed to help get just enough Yes votes, mobilising those interested and sidelining / not engaging / not encourage to vote those who are unlikely to vote Yes.

2. Be aware of the underhanded voting tactics encouraged by Mosaic; “Mr Reach said the town’s Sainsbury store paid £600,000 a year in business rates on its own – which is some 25 per cent of the town’s total business rates bill – so a Sainsbury ’yes’ vote would be half way to the 50 per cent point.” The worst thing is it would get them to the 50% point at 100% voting turnout, but even at average voting turnout it would actually give them over 50 per cent of the RV vote! This means the small independents wouldn’t have had a chance on the RV vote measure.

3. The BID Plan was too ambitious and it was not clear (i.e. the geographical area caused confusion). Again Mosaic should have known better and advised them properly.

4. Having a BID doesn’t mean it will deliver and help a town prosper. This one was poorly managed and run which shows the risks of handing a pot of money to an unproven private limited BID company. Even with a Board of Directors to guide it was all too much for them

5. If there is a will a BID company can be shut down mid-term if the Board of Directors feel it’s in the best interests of it’s levy payers! Another example of this Colwyn Bay.