Newport council chief backs boost to city traders

9:34am Tuesday 5th February 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Will Bain

BACKING: The leader of Newport City Council, Cllr Bob Bright BACKING: The leader of Newport City Council, Cllr Bob Bright

THE leader of Newport City Council, Bob Bright, has thrown his support behind the creation of a Business Improvement District (BID) in the city.

Detailing the council’s plans to attract shoppers back to Newport city centre, Councillor Bright, said: "The council is committed to a vibrant and attractive city centre with shops and leisure attractions.

"We want to take a proactive stance and encourage shoppers into the city. This can be achieved by all traders working together and taking the initiative for this to happen."

Cllr Bright said the council was committed to working with the Chamber of Trade and traders on initiatives, including the creation of a BID.

For a BID to be set up 51% of all businesses in a defined geographical area must vote in favour of it.

If this is successful a levy on business rates is set, traditionally between 1-1.5% on all the businesses in the BID area.

That money can then be used for improvement projects traders feel will benefit the area for example employing taxi marshals to curb anti-social behaviour or to pay for extra street cleaning equipment.

At meeting at the Newport centre last week traders reacted positively to a presentation about BID and set up a steering group to look at implementing one in Newport.

Cllr Bright, said: "While work takes place on incentives to attract shoppers into the city, the longer term plan for the city centre is to create a Business Improvement District.

"A BID will take time to put together, launch and implement, which is why we are looking at initiatives in the short term.

"Where the council can, we will support initiatives by local traders which looks to introduce innovative offers to encourage shoppers back into the city centre, and back into the traders' shops. Being able to park for three hours for just £1, will give shoppers ample time to visit the many retailers across the city centre who will be participating in this scheme."

Comments(6)

Meldrew@NewportMon says...
9:55am Tue 5 Feb 13

Newport Council has failed in the past. Their record is a disgrace.They have allowed the centre to deteriorate over the past twenty years to its present state with promises which were not carried out. The re-imposition of car parking fees is the latest blunder. See extract below from the South Wales Argus of 1987. It makes astonishing reading;.


SEVEN years ago,
Newport suffered its
heaviest defeat in the
war against
unemployment and
recession.
The town was rocked by
more than 6,000
redundancies in twelve
months, most jobs being lost
from the massive slim-down .
at lIanwern steelworks •
The llanwern losses were
a bitter
defeat that the borough
council resolved should never
happen again.
The council responded by
drawing up what every
general needs - a strategy.
Newporfs Economic
DevelopmentStrategy was a
multi·million pound five-year
plan to defeat depression on
several fronts.
Since the strategy was
launched, in April, Newporf's
development director Brian
Adcock has had some notable
victories in the economic
campaign.
And Newport's proposed
shopping paradise for the
1990s has been the biggest
coup so far.
The £70m shopping centre
will dwarf any commercial
development in the town's
history and transform the
town centre between
Commercial Street and
Kingsway.
Theshopper's 'paradise' - a
95,000 sq ft Debenhams store,
forty smaller shops, scenic lifts
and restaurant, with parking
space for 1,000 cars - will
give Newport the up·market
image needed to attract
shoppers away from
competing areas like Bristol
and Cardiff. That is the aim of
developers, Burton Property
Trust.

Report this post »

Woodgnome says...
5:22pm Tue 5 Feb 13

About time too. He should have been driving improvements himself well before now not belatedly attaching himself to the efforts of others. One can't help but feel that this is a reaction to the hammering his labour Council has been getting in the Argus.

Report this post »

Severn40 says...
5:44pm Tue 5 Feb 13

Labour are really doing themselves a great disservice by allowing Councillor Bright to continue as leader. Newport needs a new outlook but Councillor Bright sadly cannot provide it. This is not ageism but rather concerns about his attitude and manner towards problems in the city. He tends to forget that he is actually the servant of the people of Newport and not its master.

It is time for him to hand over the baton to someone more capable and talented within the Labour ranks. More importantly, someone who is able to throw off the politics and work with others when it calls for it.

Report this post »

scraptheWAG says...
10:32pm Tue 5 Feb 13

bob bright - what a old fool he really is

Report this post »

Leepod says...
8:02am Wed 6 Feb 13

Looking after himself! His councillor salary must be part of his pension plan and he is not serving his people. Time to vote out Labour, kick them out of Newport....

Report this post »

Crazydad says...
7:51pm Wed 6 Feb 13

Do Newport and labour a favour bright and step down. You and ohe labour old guard should have driven this forward when you were in charge. Stop blaming the condem coalition for Labour's failure. Yet another example of kn*b bright attaching himself to the efforts of others, u have had years to drive forward the development of Newport but have chosen to do nothing. Why didn't you apply for the BID when in control????

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree