Businesses voted in favour of the Cranleigh Business Improvement District (BID) at the ballot held on Wednesday 28 June 2023.
The ballot, a vote conducted by Waverley Borough Council on behalf of businesses within the Cranleigh BID area on whether they would like to establish a business-led organisation – a Business Improvement District – means local businesses can now invest as a group to improve Cranleigh.
For any BID ballot to be successful, there needs to be a majority of businesses in favour, both in terms of number of votes cast and by rateable value. For the Cranleigh BID, 50 of the total 62 votes recorded said they were in favour of the Business Improvement proposals, which will be in place for a period of five years.
The ballot result means that the Cranleigh BID can now deliver activities as identified in their five-year business plan, which followed extensive engagement with commercial organisations in the village.
Waverley Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development, Councillor Liz Townsend said,
“This is a fantastic result for Cranleigh and the first completed BID in the borough. This initiative has been strongly supported by Waverley Borough Council. We recognise the many benefits and significant investment this brings to local businesses.
“This will deliver some exciting projects in Cranleigh, as well as promoting the village and boosting the local economy. Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce, and more recently the Project BID Manager Frances Pearce and her team have worked extremely hard to gather support for the BID. This ballot result is a real success story and means that projects that directly benefit local businesses, their customers, and visitors to Cranleigh have now been given the green light.
“We very much look forward to working in partnership with the BID Board, representing and promoting the business community in Cranleigh”.
For more information on the Cranleigh BID planned activities, levy and timeline visit Cranleigh Village Bid (cranleighbid.co.uk)
For more information on BID’s, what they are, and what they can offer in terms of long term funding for local businesses and their communities visit Business Improvement Districts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)