I WOULD like to wholeheartedly support Nick Osborne’s stance on the Penarth BID scheme and would reiterate that businesses eligible to vote should give a lot of thought before putting their cross in the YES box.

The first I knew about the proposed bid was on January 5, when a fellow trader gave me a copy of the prospectus (he had been asked to distribute them along Station Approach Industrial Estate, even though his business would not be included in the BID).

My first (and admittedly) selfish thought was – what will this scheme do for my business? Nothing – as Station Approach is a private Industrial Estate, is not in the town centre, and therefore of no interest to the scheme planners.

Even when visited by Mr George Grace (BID adviser), he freely admitted that the BID would not be able to help my business in any way. Yet I would have no say about a two per cent increase in payments if the scheme was agreed.

My second thought was – how will this help the businesses in Cornerswell Road (where my business started in 1973?) it won’t – Cornerswell Road traders are not eligible to vote, nor will they benefit from the scheme, yet that area has been crying out for help and support for years.

Where will the ‘improved parking facilities’ be situated – Cosmeston? There is nothing that can be done to improve the traffic flow and parking in and around the town centre unless the council rethinks the positioning of zebra crossings and makes certain streets one way only, therefore creating greater space for parking provision.

We don’t need a limited company with director, adviser, administrator, etc, to tell us that, just a bit of common sense, which should have been used years ago by ‘cost effective’ local authorities.

Perhaps the council is now reaping the rewards of past, ill-advised decisions about shop occupancy in the town centre, traffic management (or mis-management), and general apathy of the Penarth public to use the town centre.

Nick Osborne is just the person to highlight the inadequacies of this BID. As a former mayor, he would have agonised at length about how to promote Penarth to its best advantage. I urge all businesses eligible to vote (and those that aren’t) to attend Thursday’s seminars to register their dissatisfaction with the way this scheme is being railroaded through with little or no benefit likely to anyone in Penarth at the end of the proposed five year period.

Bernard Cody

Penarth