There was a great buzz surrounding the ‘Ballymascanlon Hotel, Dundalk on Tuesday the 11th May as Dundalk Chamber of Commerce hosted Irelands first BIDS (Business Investment District Scheme) Conference.
Councillors, Chamber members and Business People from all over the North and South of Ireland, heard of the first hand benefits of BIDS and the speaker line up ensured that all areas of BIDS were covered. Brian O’Neill, Dundalk BIDS Chairperson Town Centre Commercial Manager gave a unique account and insight into Launching Dundalk’s BIDS and Andrew Mawhinney described some of the early outputs from the application of the BIDS to fund a Town Centre Commercial Manager. Andrea Lazenby-Simpson, KSA spoke on the pressing issue of regenerating town centres and Manuel Garrido gave a spirited injection to persuade authorities that “planning” tenants in a coordinated way would deliver than would a laissez-faire market approach!.
Paul Clement, Director of British BIDS & Partnership Solutions and Executive Director of Ipswich Central travelled from the UK to give an outstanding account of how BIDS has worked in the UK and provided prompts for BIDS proposals iniatives. Paul’s topic on the day was “Does the UK and Ireland need BIDS”. His conviction for BIDS was clear as he spoke of his commitment to it as the essential tool in the current economic climate to developing Ipswich - a small remote town, by focussing largely on independent traders, quality events and upskilling.
Dublin City BIDS Company CEO Richard Guiney stole the show with his innovative and in-depth account on Dublin’s BIDS. Richard spoke on how Dublin is now graffiti free and the Dublin City BIDS Company is focused on completing 1,000 tasks per week. There were no stones left unturned as he revealed that the efforts of the Dublin City BIDS Company have dramatically improved the sense of pride and place for Dubliners, as a recent survey had shown. He also indicated that tight governance and clearly measured were essential if a BIDS was to claim a second term, bit like politics, for both consume publicly collected cash.
Feedback from the attendees was extremely positive as they felt that many previously held concerns were explained, for Dundalk after 4 years since legislation was enacted, remains the only town to conclude a BIDS proposal in Ireland. The emphasis Bill Tosh brought to their ears, was that from the outset, BIDS, whilst business-led, was a powerful opportunity for joint enterprise between businesses and the local authority to influence business betterment entities. Delegates complimented the town’s appearance in these tough times and the outreach to some 80 boroughs all over the country was a good profiling exercise for it.
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