Chairman's report to the Chamber June 2010

• First I would like to take a strategic view of what the BID is doing for Dorchester. Contrary to some people's expectations BIDs in general have helped towns and cities to weather the recession. That has certainly been the case here. We emerged from the recession having lost twenty shops but gained more than 30. You may be aware of some more recent casualties this year but without being complacent overall we are in an unexpectedly good position, particularly compared to some neighbouring towns.
• At the start of this year a business research organisation put Dorchester at the top of a list of towns where your business was least likely to fail. Putting this the other way round - where your business was most likely to succeed. We are not claiming that this is all down to the BID - there are undoubtedly lots of different factors at work - but the BID has been cited particularly by new businesses opening as one of the factors affecting their decision to open in Dorchester.
• They say this because one of our most important projects was town promotion and having to start somewhere we initially made an impact on the rest of Dorset by supporting advertising in a range of publications. We have made an impact further afield by building a website which regularly now gets 2500 unique visitors a month. We have kept the initiative fresh by introducing our 3D tour - virtual Dorchester on the site and supporting and featuring local events such as the festival, carnival and the homecoming from Afghanistan for 4 Rifles.
• Again we are not the only people doing this but because BID businesses have a free entry in our Directory we now have well over 160 businesses represented on the site putting over the message that there is great shopping to be had in Dorchester.
• I was speaking at the launch meeting for Wimborne BID and someone in the audience said Dorchester had done well on the back of all the Wellworths publicity rather than the BID. I beg to differ because one of the reasons Claire opened here rather than somewhere else and is on our Board is precisely because she values the support of the BID and the structure we had in place meant we could take maximum advantage of a once in a lifetime news story.
• FREE parking - As a result of the great commitment given to me by a very good number of businesses in town, I was able to go to DCC and WDDC and persuade them to give us free parking for all the late night shopping evenings to Christmas. This has been very well received and I hope that with the publicity it will help improve trade on these Wednesdays until Christmas - time will tell. For this and other reasons visitor numbers were up 15% last year compared with before the BID started.
• Last year we started to have a major impact on parking - working with WDDC which is responsible for the car parks to implement the RINGGO pay by phone parking scheme which supports text alerts when your time is running out and allows mobile phone topping up of your parking time.
• We have been as concerned as anyone else by the negative impact of the County Council's on street meters on local businesses and have been working with the Chamber and both Councils to find ways of making this scheme more flexible. We look forward to a positive announcement of significant changes very soon.
• We are also working with the Chamber and the Councils to improve signage in the town. We are seeking through a voluntary agreement to have less A boards in town - the quid pro quo being the introduction of ladder boards to tell people about some of the premises which currently make use of these. It's a sensitive issue but we all want to avoid either the streets being cluttered and a hazard to everyone or the Council taking draconian steps to remove the A Boards which they would be entitled to do.
• We worked successfully with WDDC to see the introduction of recycling bins in the shopping streets and with the Stop The Drop Campaign to see the introduction of unobtrusive butt bins around the town - an initiative applauded by Bill Bryson with his CPRE hat on.
• This year we will be adding greatly to the number of cycle racks around the town using a local manufacturer to make the stands. We still have to get the equivalent of building control approval but with this and planning consent for the butt bins we are finding that working with the local authorities speeds things up considerably.
• We are currently extending the rubbish recycling initiative to commercial premises and will shortly be offering a subsidy towards the cost to businesses of using the Council's cardboard recycling service. You can imagine something like this or the cycle rack project takes a lot of research time and negotiation before any concrete plans can be made. We would love to have something new appearing every month but we have one person working three days a week with a little paid help so that would be unrealistic.
• We are not a funding body because the levy is not our money to spend as we wish but your money which is being spent to implement a business plan which those of you in the BID area voted for two years ago - overwhelmingly positively. Music and entertainment in South Street was in the business plan and has been hugely successful. However things happen which no-one could have forseen and we have some leeway to support events and initiatives which make Dorchester a more vibrant and responsible place.
• A few of the other things we have done and are doing are supporting subsidised and sometimes even free courses for business owners and employees, paying the vast majority of the costs of the Christmas lights and commissioning regular deep cleaning in targeted grot spots.
• The third year of the BID started in May. We have a lively Board of 14 Directors fairly evenly split between the sexes. We have representatives from chains such as Waitrose and White Stuff on the Board as well as Dorchester business owners. We are always looking for potential Directors because moving jobs etc means some turnover every year.
• My message above all would be there are immense benefits to be had from the BID both for individual businesses and for the town as a whole. So please do get involved initially by registering at www.dorchesterdorset.co.uk . If you own a BID business you can then immediately put your businesss onto our directory which appears on the town promotion website at www.dorchesterdorset.com. We can't do it all ourselves but will happily work with other groups to make a difference. For example we would love to support a "Dorchester in Bloom" group

Report Archive

• October/December 2009 reports
• August/October 2009 reports
• March to June 2009 reports
• PDF download of AGM 2008/9 annual report (5Mb)
• January 2009 report
• September/November 2008 report
• July/August 2008 report

Report - AGM April 2010

• What a year it has been - Our 2nd year has seen some of the most challenging times for trading in recent history.

• DBID has been working hard on your behalf - to help make sure that Dorchester comes through in the best order to benefit from economic recovery.
• Initiatives aimed at boosting visitor numbers & attracting new customers to town have proved to be both popular and successful.
  Visitor numbers were up - (museums an average of 5%+) some stores have reported visitors slightly down but t/o up. Car park usage up over 15% overall with Park and Ride up an impressive 22% year on year. We need more P&R!
• The website has seen an increase in traffic of more than 80% over the last year. - More BID businesses are joining the 'free to list' Business Directory. Have you done yours?
• We attracted massive media interest with our new Virtual Dorchester project - which lets anyone in the world explore the town and go into shops and attractions before a visit to Dorchester. It is even helping some local children to familiarise themselves with town, helping them understand the local street layouts.

  Interest from the media has been great - coverage included pieces in the Daily Telegraph and the Metro. 1st 30 places on VD subsidised from £230 down to £79, so popular we have now extended this to another 30!

• The Wellworths effect - continues to give a sustained boost to visitor numbers and has been cited as one of the main reasons for several new shops and businesses opening since, according to their owners. Over 30 new businesses have come to town in the last two years since the DBID first launched- We are delighted!
• Advertising support - To help BID businesses promote their way out of recession we extended our initiative on joint advertising in a series of local publications and on local radio. This has been tremendously well received and highly effective with virtually all participating businesses reporting impressive local response and gaining many new customers from outside the immediate area.

  The DBID has made it affordable for everyone to be able to advertise their shop or business Dorset-wide and beyond.

• Christmas push - A further push on town promotion pre-Christmas resulted in businesses reporting their figures up on the previous year.
• Parking - One of the most important issues the DBID pledged to tackle was parking. Having determined that pay on exit for the whole of town was not an option in the current climate (costs £0.7M+) we explored new, hi-tech solutions and worked in partnership with WDDC to pilot the RingGo Pay by Phone system. We were also delighted with the efforts and results from the Wessex FM radio commercials telling the local population all about this excellent new facility for Dorchester parkers.
• Visitors and regulars can now enjoy a more relaxed shopping experience - You can park and even top up your parking by mobile from anywhere in town - no more rushing back before a ticket expires.
• Meters - we were disappointed to see DCC introduce on-street meters throughout town, DBID is working with DCC to find a way of making them more acceptable and easier to use. At least with RingGo you don't need to find loose change any more.
• Welcome for Heroes - WIn partnership with the town council we launched Heroes Welcome. Dorchester is the first town in the South West to join this national campaign offering quiet support and a warm welcome to members of our armed forces and their dependents. Get your sticker from DTC or DBID. We will add you to the website!
• Better signage - We achieved a lot last year but this coming year DBID switches some focus to improve signage and tourist maps for town. The new maps are about to be rolled out in town. The DBID is also looking forward to working with our Council and Chamber partners to come up with some attractive and better solutions to the growing number of 'A' boards around town.
• The success of the Saturday street entertainment - last year was evident with 1000's of locals and visitors enjoying a huge variety of music & street entertainers over the summer weekends. DBID aims to extend our support of the Dorchester Performance and Music Group (DPMG) who organise these exciting, fun and colourful events.
• Dorchester Skate Park - Although not a BID project the fantastic new skate park is a brilliant facility for all local skaters (young and older!). It's a real attraction for visitors as well as being a great venue for events. In recognition of this DBID has made a contribution for some much needed seating at the park. It is hoped that these will be made locally supporting local manufacturing. The skate park is near to the town centre and it is attracting more people into town. The Dorchester BID has also offered support for future events promotion.
• On-Street recycling: - An excellent example of partnerships came to fruition last year when the DBID in partnership with WDDC helped to fund some smart new triple purpose bins in the town centre. Just in time for the Christmas cracker, Dorchester became the first West Dorset town to offer on-street recycling. These bins will save over 50 tonnes of landfill each year saving £3000 p.a. and improving the environment.
• 'Stop the drop' - campaigners were also funded with a contribution towards highly successful stainless steel 'butt bins'. More than 60 are now located throughout town.

• Christmas Lights - Budget savings together with a number of voluntary contributions enabled DBID to boost contribution to the Christmas lights from £5k to £7k This enabled the Corn Exchange to have much nicer lights last year. You will have to wait to see what is new this year!
• Courses - BID businesses continue to benefit from FREE & subsidised training the most recent of which 'task & project management made simple' was over subscribed and will be repeated later this year. If you have any requests for staff training then we would like to hear from you.
• Plastic bags - Our project to greatly reduce the use of plastic bags in town continues to gather support. Many stores now offer a selection of their own environmentally friendly bags. We have identified a lack of Dorchester souvenirs and so DBID is considering producing Dorchester souvenir cotton & canvas bags and want to challenge local artists to come up with design ideas.
• Deep cleaning - There will be a series of deep cleaning days though April/May to help brighten up town before summer but we rely on you to help identify needy locations so please keep the suggestions coming.
• What's coming up? - Survey in town this week! Car parking figures Cycle racks Mural/Roundabout project Cricket sponsorship 20/20 series!

  Thank you again to all those people who have engaged with DBID, some for the first time last year and from me, a special thank you for your kind comments and feedback over the last year which helps us all going and well motivated to strive to achieve more things this year