BID to attract custom to town
WHILE Drogheda might be suffering some negative headlines nationally, those who work hard to make the town a success have doubled their efforts to promote the positive.
Scores of people, the majority rate payers in the town, packed into the Westcourt Hotel on Monday night, for a public meeting outlining details of a Business Improvement District (BID) proposal to be put to Louth County Council.
A BID is a defined area where businesses are required to pay an additional rate levy in order to fund projects within that area.
The additional charge or levy is ring fenced and used to finance shared common projects. For existing BID companies elsewhere in Ireland, the BID levy ranges from 1.5% to 5% of additional rates.
Christmas lights, foot fall counters, WiFi hot spots, town watch and town signage were just some of the topics discussed in the meeting.
The proposal is being put together by local business people determined to make Drogheda an attractive place to shop and trade, including Niall Kierans, Joe Stafford, Brian Browning, Declan Kierans and Jackie Jolliffe.
The BID is operated through a company with an elected board comprising of rate payers along with two co-opted board members – a county councillor and an executive from Louth County Council.
Jackie Jolliffe of The Crafty Fox; Drogheda’s Fabric Crafts and Haberdashery store in Laurence Street says: ‘Christmas lights will be first priority – our town looks like a downtrodden poor relation to most other towns in Ireland when it comes to festive lights in my opinion.
‘ This is not just from a retailer’s perspective but from a pride in my town perspective! We also need to make more use of our river, with the Boyneside Trail, river taxi, tourist routes to Oldbridge and tap into local legends such as the Salmon of Knowledge.’
If a majority of rate payers vote in favour, the BID for Drogheda will then be enacted.
The Drogheda BID working group’s next workshop is at the Westcourt Hotel on Wednesday 28th November at 6:15pm. All Drogheda rate payers and public representatives are welcome.