About the BID
BID stands for
‘Business Improvement
District’.
Businesses in Aberdare have voted to form a Business Improvement District to improve their town centre. Having a Business Improvement District puts Aberdare in good company.
There are now over 300 BIDs across the UK, working successfully to enhance commercial areas for their members.
Our programme pledges to deliver services above and beyond those currently provided by the borough council.
This ‘additionality’ is fundamental to the way in which the BID works and is ensured by a baseline agreement between Our Aberdare and Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council.
Our Pledges are to work towards improving:
The Look & Feel
Information &
Communication
Parking & Accessibility
Marketing & Events
A good-looking town means happier visitors.
We aim to:
- Improve signage in and around the town – we will welcome more visitors with attractive signage and will work with the Council and the local college to develop some eye-catching new ideas.
- Brighten up empty units – empty shops don’t look good. Our Aberdare will aim to make the windows of empty shops more interesting and colourful with window vinyls.
- Decorate the town – we feel Aberdare would benefit from brightening up and we will work with local artists on ideas about how this could be done. We will also put up bunting and flags around the town for events, plus invest in greening initiatives.
Bring waste ground back to use – we will be able to identify these areas and work with partners on the potential to develop them for community use.
There is no central information point where visitors can go to find out what our town has to offer.
We aim to:
- Develop an Aberdare hub – which would act as an office-base for the town. Information would be available about the town for visitors wanting to know more.
- The town has a history in iron and the hub would be able to direct visitors to local places of interest such as the Cynon Valley Museum.
- The hub could also be a co-working space which could generate extra income for projects.
- Help businesses succeed – by being able to signpost new and existing businesses towards the advice and grant funding that is available to them.
- Be a stronger voice for businesses – Our Aberdare will work with ABTA and be a strong, collective voice for our town’s businesses with resources to deliver projects and resolve issues that matter to you.
- Develop and promote parking offers – we will work with the Council to attract more footfall to the town.
- Work on improving access – Aberdare is fortunate in having flat access from car parks into town. We will work with the council and other agencies on some of the disability access issues around the town centre. We will also lobby on the traffic problems affecting the town.
We need to encourage more people to visit our town.
We aim to:
- Create a annual calendar of events – including food and music festivals that will appeal to a wide range of people.
#FAQ's
A BID is a business-led and funded partnership, where businesses within a defined area invest money together to make the improvements they identify for their trading environment. The money generated is targeted only at the Our Aberdare programme.
Our Aberdare is funded through a small business levy, which is calculated at the beginning of the BID term by using the rateable value of a business unit, and is initially set at 1.5% in Aberdare. All businesses within the BID boundary and with a rateable value of more than £5,000 contribute to the levy. Businesses with a total rateable value below this threshold will be exempt but can make a voluntary contribution.
To ensure that services will be additional to what is already delivered. Our Aberdare will have a baseline agreement with the borough council, which details the services they currently deliver. The baseline agreements will include public conveniences, street cleansing, highways maintenance, town centre management, car parks, CCTV and licensing including taxis, alcohol, street trading and late-night food. BID funds are ONLY for projects in addition to those delivered by the local councils and can only be spent to improve the area in which they are raised.
Yes, the council has a number of properties in the town centre and will be levy payers, as would other public bodies.
Our Aberdare is an independent, not-for-profit company. This will continue to be led by the private sector – by a voluntary board of directors who represent the businesses in Aberdare and by theme groups also drawn from local businesses, who will meet to oversee specific projects in the programme’s four main strands. There will be lots of opportunities for businesses to get involved.