FURTHER to last week’s letter from Dave Noble and the comment from the editor, I believe the decision by the 227 businesses eligible to vote next month on this BID will be a more informed one, as there has been much more discussion about the pros and cons than even the BID supporters would have envisaged.

Listening to the guest speaker, Peter Williams and the Bid adviser, George Grace at the meeting on January 15, you would be forgiven in assuming that there were no negative aspects to the proposals. Questions were either not answered at all or the subject was skirted around. However, in conversation with Mr Williams later in the meeting, he queried the logic of the way the map of eligible businesses had been drawn.

Small Business Rate Relief is due to finish on March 31, 2015, and therefore business rates payable will increase (along with the annual increase yet to be announced by the council), making the 2 per cent levy for eligible businesses look less like value for money than ever.

Dave Noble cites Cowbridge town centre as a comparison with Penarth, however Cowbridge does not suffer from the blight of large retail parks in the near vicinity as Penarth does. From the Tesco store at the Marine right down to IKEA, there are plenty of larger national stores in close proximity which Penarth traders, with the best will in the world, cannot compete with. Cowbridge has three coffee shops along the whole stretch of its High Street compared with at least seven in Penarth town centre, four charity shops compared with eight, and a wider diversity of independent boutique shops to draw the interest of the browsing public.

The Bid Steering Group, and the directors/administrators of the BID company should there be a successful vote, would not be able to cap the number of like businesses trading in the town centre, nor dictate what type of business should or shouldn’t occupy premises there.

Dave Noble’s suggestion that the BID company could act to get reductions in services (gas, electric, phone services, etc) is optimistic at best, as this probably wouldn’t be part of the remit of the BID personnel. It is not unheard of for traders to recommend cost-effective insurers, internet providers, etc, to each other, and, in any event, owners would seek to keep their running costs to a minimum as part of their business plan.

Much has been made of successful BIDs in other parts of the country, but Swansea’s traders are discontented with their BID personnel walking round but not achieving anything. Swansea’s BID is due for renewal in 2015, the result of which will be closely monitored in Penarth, too late to influence voting next month though.

I would appreciate both sides being given an equal footing to expand on their position regarding this BID before the vote takes place – a third of last week’s letters page was graced by the front cover of the BID proposal plan document, with the Vote Yes logo prominent. Eligible businesses have between February 2 and March 2 to exercise their vote – questions from concerned traders and residents to the organisers can be submitted via www.questionpenarthbid.org

Bernard Cody

Penarth