The Dorchester BID project received a great deal of support from local people and businesses. This section of the website gives them an opportunity to express this support in their own words. next pagePage 1/6
"Since the BID was inaugerated, it has been responsible for championing local businesses and promoting Dorchester to the wider world in a really positive way. It is a great way to bring the business community together and get effective action on key issues. It's really powerful to have many voices working together to influence decision making, such as on Pay by Mobile parking, and I am sure there will be numerous examples of positive and effective action in the future"
Nick Davis
Branch Manager
Waitrose
Roger Gould
then Managing Director
Goulds
Roger Gould, former Managing Director of Goulds, has championed the BID campaign from the start:
"Count me in, absolutely. To vote ‘no’ you’d have to be completely satisfied with the status quo in Dorchester – and we all know we can do a whole lot better.
I’m fully in favour. It means at the very minimum we’d have a fund of half a million available over five years - new money, ring fenced money that would be fully under our control. Think of the potential power of about 430 businesses working together with independent funding. In many ways that’s the real prize! With 57 other places already signed up and more becoming BID areas, its important that we do everything we can to give Dorchester a competitive edge over other towns in the South West and improve our market share of consumer spend."
Tim Batty
General Manager
World Heritage
"The beauty of the BID is that it generates new money that is ring fenced for the businesses of the Dorchester BID area to spend as they see fit. All the money raised from the levy will be reinvested for the good of the town. The BID should act as a focus for change within Dorchester. Promotion, the environment and security are the three main strategies.
As someone who has been involved in museums - such as the Dinosaur Museum and the Tutankhamun Exhibition - and tourism in the town for many years it is a travesty that Dorchester, the historic county town, has never been promoted in the past. The BID will change all that.
For the first time Dorchester's businesses will have an effective voice and be able to work together for the benefit of all."
