BID to put together a £1,500,000 city panel
A panel representing all parts of Preston's business community is to take charge of a new £500,000-a-year cash pot.
Officials behind the city's Business Improvement District (BID) are to spend the next five months putting together the group, which will take charge of the 1.5m generated over the three-year life of the programme.
Shopping centre managers Ken Williams of The Mall St George's and Keith Mitchell of the Fishergate Centre are expected to make up part of the working group, which will be led by North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce policy director Hugh Evans.
But, Mr Evans said he would invite representatives from across the professional services, leisure and retail sectors to join the group.
He said: "Preston has a diverse economy and that has to be reflected in the make up of the working group, because each sector will bring a different set of priorities to the BID.
"We cannot afford for this just to be about retail or just about leisure. It is something every business within the city centre is paying for and therefore their priorities must be reflected in how it works."
He added that original plans, including an 'Alive After 5' campaign to boost the city's evening economy and employing street rangers to meet-and-greet visitors, were likely to remain part of the BID proposals which kick off in April next year.
But, he said, there was still time for all traders to have their say.
Mr Evans said: "We purposely did not put anything too concrete into the scheme and kept it as open as we can, but events and security were two things which have always been priorities for people in the run-up to the vote."
Frank McKenna, chairman of private sector lobbying group Downtown Preston in Business, said that boosting the leisure trade after 5pm had to be a top priority of the BID.
He said: "Anyone who visited the Christmas markets in Manchester at the weekend will tell you that providing an event unique to a place is the mark of a city, and that is what Preston has to develop.
"There are leisure operators out there who are watching Preston as a place for potential investment. If we can create something over the next year or 18 months then they will view us as a risk worth taking."
Jeremy Gorick, a member of the Preston Vision Board and managing director of chemicals firm Iotech Group, said he hoped money spent in the centre would have "a multiplier effect" on the rest of the city.
He said: "If you are going for money you have to play by the rules of the game. If that means the city centre benefits then I think people even outside of the city should support that because, ultimately, they will benefit from the ripples that money creates."
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
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