BUSINESSES on Northampton’s Brackmills industrial estate are being urged to secure the estate’s future and vote ‘Yes’ to renewing its status as a Business Improvement District.
Speaking at the BID’s Annual General Meeting in October, its chief executive Sara Homer unveiled plans for a next year’s ballot to renew the estate’s status as a BID.
Businesses have been pooling an annual levy for nearly 15 years to fund a host of improvements on the estate and are now to vote again to ensure the improvements as well as future plans and ambitions can continue to be funded.
Over the next few months the BID team will be visiting Brackmills organisations to find out what owners, managers and staff want the BID to invest in and prioritise. Feedback will then shape the BID Business Plan for the next five years
Ms Homer pictured said: “We are now in the final year of our third term as a Business Improvement District and this means it is time to start planning for the future of our estate. Our current five-year BID term is set to conclude in May 2024 so our focus is now shifting towards securing another YES vote.
“Only with a YES vote can we ensure our status as a thriving BID continues for at least another five years.”
Since first voting yes to becoming a BID nearly 15 years ago the logistics and business estate, which is now home to more than 180 businesses and more than 180,000 employees, has been transformed. In 2008, before the BID was first established, Brackmills was a prime target for criminal gangs involved in thefts from and of lorries. Laybys and verges were crowded with parked cars and several road hazards had resulted in fatalities.
Today, crime is at an all-time low, roads are well maintained, businesses are supported and the estate is clean and green.
“As a BID we have worked together to achieve a huge amount on Brackmills and it is essential we do not take this for granted,” said Brackmills BID chair Howard Wilson. “Only by voting ‘Yes’ will Brackmills continue to thrive.”
He urged businesses based on the estate to complete the BID survey and download its new app onelink.to/e82e9g. “Make your voice and your views heard.”
The BID’s vice chair Charlotte Patrick told the AGM: “Brackmills BID is a community so tell us what you want. Together, we can make the estate even better over the next five years. Let’s not go back to the days when it was neglected, unloved, crime was high and people felt unsafe.”
