Businesses at Northampton’s Brackmills estate are pledging to renew its Business Improvement District (BID) status, following a drop in crime there.
The end of Brackmills’first BID is in May 2014, so businesses are being asked to vote ‘yes’ in the BID ballot this March.
Based near junction 15 of the M1, the logistics and transport hub was previously one of the top UK targets for criminal gangs for theft of and from lorries.
“It was an area littered with cars, muddy verges and road hazards resulting in fatalities,” said BID executive chair for Brackmills, Sara Homer.
But the estate was awarded a BID status five years ago, when some 130 resident companies there began work to reduce crime, and achieve an overall cleaner, safer, and more secure environment.
“Today crime is at an all-time low, roads are gritted in winter and the overall feel of the estate cleaner and greener with new bus services, managed cycle paths and safer footpaths,” said Homer.
“We are confident that if we had not come together to form a Business Improvement District the decaying environment of Brackmills would have presented costly challenges to the businesses operating here.”
Brackmills now has a new business plan, prioritising improved broadband speeds, access on and off the estate, support with training and temporary staff, and a continued focus on security.
“In 2009 Brackmills secured the highest ever YES vote recorded by a UK BID and in March we are committed to regaining our BID status,” said BID director at the estate, Peter Hannon.
“To ensure that all the good work and dramatic improvements we have secured in the last five years continue and that Brackmills does not return to the estate it used to be, our message is vote YES.”
Being part of the next BID will mean businesses paying and pooling a levy, set at one per cent of each business’ rateable value.
