OneMaidstone BID - Campaign for a second five-year term gets underway
This June, businesses in Maidstone town centre will vote to decide whether to keep the OneMaidstone Business Improvement District (BID), which has been delivering town centre services since 2018.
OneMaidstone Bid is funded by levy payers (rate paying businesses) and runs for a five-year term. The services which the team provide include the town centre business crime reduction partnership, town centre Ambassadors, CCTV monitoring, town centre events, Christmas lights, promotional materials including a quarterly magazine and enhanced and responsive cleaning.
Having been fully involved with the BID team over the last five years, here at Gullands we have certainly seen the benefits of the scheme and we have also worked alongside them on several initiatives including The Wine Weekend, Maidstone High Street Heroes, the Knife Angel, and the Scarecrow Festival.
The many events held in the town during the last five years have helped bring a new audience to the town centre and have included Elmer’s Big Heart of Kent Parade which we also sponsored. We are looking forward to working with the Heart of Kent Hospice again on their next trail with Shaun the Sheep in 2024 which is expected to once again bring a huge number of visitors to the town.
We were delighted to attend the BID launch event on 20th April at The Business Terrace to hear about the achievements of the team and their plans for the next five years.
Michelle Woodland CEO of OneMaidstone BID comments: “The past five years have been an exciting and challenging time, presenting the opportunity for us to work together as a family of businesses sometimes in circumstances which none of us could have predicted - but we have successfully satisfied the objectives that our business community set for us.”
“We are ready to continue the work that has been done and we invite town centre businesses to consider the contents of the business plan for a new five-year term and vote in favour of the BID continuing to support the trading environment into 2028.”
“The BID is an opportunity for the business community to have a say in what happens in the town centre. The levy investment can only be used on projects within our immediate area and will be used on the activities that have been highlighted as a priority by the businesses and will support the business community as a collective group.”
Gullands’ Managing Partner John Roberts comments: “We will be throwing our support behind OneMaidstone BID and the team and we wish them every success in securing support for a second five-year term.”
Full details can be found at www.onemaidstone.com