BUSINESSES are being urged to get involved with the plan for the second term of the Weymouth BID to promote the town and compete against other destinations.

The existing Weymouth BID will end on August 31 2018.

The current board is now starting to explore the possibilities of putting together a group of local business consultants who can work on the business plan for a second term of the Weymouth BID.

The second term will run from 2018 to 2023 and will be known as BID 2.

The aim of BID 2 is to promote Weymouth and to compete against other destinations and create the opportunities for businesses.

The first BID business plan saw the creation of the WeAreWeymouth brand, website, social media, local events and other town centre projects.

The Weymouth BID is now looking for people within the business community who are keen to be actively involved in developing the business plan for BID 2.

These people will also need to support the campaign to renew the BID through ballot in May 2018.

They would be involved in creating the plan and all other aspects of renewal from consultation to formation of the plan, the new bid structure, the new BID structure, BID area, levy fee, meeting with businesses and campaigning for a successful BID 2 renewal.

The BID said that it is keen for a wide-range of people from all sectors to be involved and is not limited to existing levy payers.

The first stage of creating the new business plan must start with consultation with Weymouth levy paying businesses and this will commence over the next few weeks with meetings between BID representatives and business owners.

Nigel Reed, BID manager, said: “This will be a major focus for 2017 and the formation of a group of local business consultants will be able to take the Weymouth BID renewal process further. The current Weymouth BID will end on 31 August 2018 and steps need to be taken now to ensure that a strong renewal campaign and business plan is developed.

“We will be holding a Levy Payers meeting in late March 2017 where we will discuss the project and business plan formation for the second term of the Weymouth BID.”

The Weymouth BID board are also looking for new directors to come forward from the business community to ensure that a good cross section of business sectors are represented.

The BID is particularly looking for representation from the independent retail businesses and the service sector.

Please complete the contact details at www.weymouthbid.co.uk/BID2 if you are interested in registering your interest in the BID2 consultation group. Forms should be with the BID by Friday March 3, 2017 to enable an initial meeting to take place later in March.

For further details or brief discussion on aspects of the role please contact the BID Manager on 01305 779410 or 07712 329987