Council’s ‘shameful’ treatment of BID team
IT will be people power not Louth County Council who will secure Drogheda’s future success.
This is the view of a group of local traders and business people, who are exasperated at the lack of action and interest in their efforts to improve the development of the town.
Arising from the Fleadh, the Love Drogheda group came together to see if a Business Improvement District (BID) can be established for Drogheda. They got working on holding rate payer workshops, meetings presentations, engagement with local bodies, such as Tidy Towns, Chamber of Commerce, The Mill Enterprise Centre, Drogheda City Status and many oher groups who had shared goals for the development of Drogheda.
However, they say they are really disappointed with the engagement and support they have received from Louth County Council.
“They have requested numerous amendments and demanded excessive and unrealistic collection charges, and they have continually attempted to obfuscate, frustrate, delay and discredit our proposal” said local business person Geoff Fitzpatrick, member of the working group. “For a small voluntary group to be treated this way is absolutely shameful.”
As the local elections approach, members are asking the people of Drogheda to pick the brains of those seeking your vote to see just what they have in mind to put the town back on the road to success. “This is not the first time a group from Drogheda have attempted to set up a BID in our town,” added Niall Kierans, whose family have operated a retail business on West St for over 100 years. “We expect the law of the land to be upheld, and the democratic wishes of the people and rate payers of Drogheda respected by all.”
Since December, a list of projects was compiled and put into a proposal document in accordance with the legislation. Projects included 5-year enterprise plans, strategies to get some of the 8,000 people that migrate out of Drogheda every day to commute elsewhere (mostly Dublin) to work in the town, business metrics, town infrastructure, Christmas lights, footfall counters, events and loads more.
This was then submitted to Louth Rating Authority in December 2018. The Rating Authority is responsible for facilitating a plebiscite for rate payers to vote yes or no on the proposal,and for invoicing the BID contribution levy. As part of this process the Louth Rating Authority is required to place the proposal on the public file “as soon as practicable”.
“It’s now over four months since the working group submitted our proposal,” adds Geoff. “It is our view that the Rating Authority executive is not complying with their duties and obligations.”