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ABINGDON EDITION Tax on tobacco ‘could save 200 this week: million lives’ p11
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Thursday, January 9 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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IT DOES HAVE POTENTIAL… Idea tabled to develop town into a ‘Business Improvement District’ By Adam Flinn
More flooding devastation in Abingdon
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adam@taylornewspapers.co.uk
DISCUSSIONS have begun as to whether Abingdon should become a Business Improvement District (BID), to help promote local companies around the town centre. The Choose Abingdon Partnership met with members of the town’s Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday night, with the BID receiving a largely positive response. It would see the creation of a trust company that is legally obliged to deliver an action plan businesses vote for, fi nanced by councils, grants, and a levy on business rates. Around 170 BIDs have been set up across the UK, and if Choose Abingdon decide to go ahead with their proposal, it would be voted upon by businesses at a later date. Jill Carver, secretary of the Abingdon Chamber of Commerce and owner of Added Ingredients on Stert Street, was optimistic at this early stage. She said: “Accounting for the fact there are 170 around the
country successfully doing it, I think it does have potential. “However this was just a precursor meeting, we’ve yet to come up with a plan so it’s just an idea at the moment.” Sandy Lovatt, leader of Abingdon Town Council and board member for the Choose Abingdon Partnership, also believes a BID would be beneficial for the town. He said: “I think it would be beneficial because it will raise a lot more money, and will put some longevity and sustainability in the plan. “It will produce quite a lot of money to enable Abingdon to develop. I don’t know how much, but it will basically take the Choose Abingdon Partnership off the taxpayer’s bill and make it self-funding. It could be important for Abingdon and it will do a lot for the town. “We’ve got to start marketing Abingdon a lot better. That’ll probably change the nature of the businesses we get, which will be more suitable to the sort of people who come into the town.”
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