THE DORCHESTER BID (Business Improvement District) has resolved a dispute with a supplier after it was taken to court over a contract row.

The dispute arose from when a previous chairman of the BID instructed a supplier to carry out a survey of BID levy payers, with the BID paying a £3,750 levy for the service.

Four days later the BID received a second invoice for £5,350.

A statement released by the BID said: “The board of directors were unhappy with the service provided by the supplier in question and were not prepared to pay the additional invoice that the board of directors had not been made aware of and were not expecting.

“This bringing the overall cost to £9,100.

“It was decided that it was not in the interest of our levy payers to make this payment as it was felt by the board to be wholly unjustified and not representative of best value for money.

“Only 90 replies of the survey were received out of a possible 400 plus.”

The BID had to re-produce the survey in house in the end, at an additional cost of £1,500, and after a lengthy period of negotiation the sub-contractor decided to take the BID to court.

The BID said it’s ‘only course of action’ was to defend the claim in court as well as issuing a counter claim for the original payment of £3,750 as the board deemed the project delivery to be ‘a total failure’.

The case has now been settled with no additional payments to be made by either party.

The BID statement said: “The BID board are glad this matter is resolved and we will continue with moving forward with the proper business of the Dorchester BID.”