The Kirkwall Business Improvement District was formed in 2013, and is now approaching the end of its second five-year term. Member businesses will receive their voting pack from Orkney Islands Council this week, and have until the 2nd of March 2023 to return their completed voting slips.
Laura Bruce, Kirkwall BID Manager, reflected on the last five years of Kirkwall BID: ‘As someone who was brought up to support local, I have a passion for this role and seeing our amazing town centre continuing to do well. This second term of Kirkwall BID has seen us organise some huge events, which really help to bring people to town and remind them of all that is on offer in Kirkwall. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we were quick to seek opportunities for extra funding for the town and get involved in local initiatives to support businesses, as well as lobbying for changes to policies when they weren’t getting the right support to the right members. We played a crucial role in communicating information to our members and to the public on behalf of our members.’
Touching on the recovery support for Kirkwall, Laura explained ‘we are proud to have brought in over £78,000 of additional funding to Kirkwall in the last term, supporting projects, advertisements and events. We feel that Kirkwall BID is continuing to strengthen the town centre, and we will keep finding novel and exciting ways to attract people to Kirkwall and to support the local businesses. I believe that Kirkwall BID is a fantastic resource, created, funded and run by our local businesses. You don’t have to travel far to see high streets and town centres in a terrible state with lots of empty properties. We need to continue our joined-up working to keep the heart in Kirkwall’.
Duncan McLean, chair of Kirkwall BID for the past four years, said, ‘We get a great response from the public for our events, they love to come out and support businesses. Our board is made up of volunteers from a variety of business sectors, who give their time to keep the BID moving forward. We hope that our member businesses can see the great work that we’ve done and will continue to do if they vote yes.’
Duncan added, ‘A momentum has been built up over the last ten years through the efforts of the BID team, board and levy payers, with many positive results and visible investments in the town centre. We have a clear vision for what is needed to build on the successes to date, and it’s all laid out in our new business plan. I encourage everyone to have a look at that – it has been posted out to all BID members. We think you’ll be amazed at what BID has achieved so far, and excited about our plans for the next five years. We hope you will vote yes when you receive your voting paper.’
For further information, contact:
Laura Bruce, BID Manager
Kirkwall BID
M: 07436 704593
email: [email protected]
