CONCERNS over the Weymouth’s Business Improvement District (BID) are growing after a councillor stepped forward to lambast the organisation.

Francis Drake, who owns Antonio’s Café and is also a Weymouth and Portland borough councillor representing the town centre, is supporting levy payers’ criticism of the group.

And he said he was behind a move by trader Chris Steadman who is trying to get a vote of no confidence in the BID board.

It comes after a heated debate broke out at the BID’s AGM on Tuesday and board members were accused of a ‘lack of transparency’. One levy payer described proceedings as a ‘farce’.

The BID team says it is taking on board the concerns which have been raised and are investigating how a vote of no confidence can be conducted.

Mr Drake said he himself called for a vote of no confidence at the meeting but claimed it was dismissed. He added: “That meeting was a whole waste of time, we never solved anything.

“I’m not against the BID; I want it to work. The people at the top are not listening.”

Mr Drake believes the board members should step down and put themselves up for re-election.

He added that levy payers had put forward ideas in the past to improve the town, but they were rejected without even being discussed.

Nigel Reed, manager of the BID, said: “There was probably a request for a vote [of no confidence] at the meeting, but apparently AGM’s don’t make it easy for this to be held.

“There was also talk that [past] events hadn’t been successful and we are learning from that.

“Obviously these concerns are coming into us but we are trying to seek legal advice on how we can [hold the vote of no confidence] – we are not against it.

“We need to be given a chance to sit down and make sure that the BID does take on board what has been said and try to reach answers and solutions.”

Council to ask questions... next year

AS REPORTED in the Echo, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is currently looking into the BID and is in the process of producing a report on the organisation.

Cllr Gill Taylor, chairman of the council’s scrutiny committee, said: “We have actually got it timetabled for a whole committee working group in January, so that will not be a public meeting.

“We decided that they needed to have their AGM first.

“I was at the AGM and it’s not the right time to do [the working group] now.

“People are still angry, there needs to be a bit of space and a clear mind to decide what needs to be answered.

“What I would be looking for at the January meeting is whether we want to go forward.

“Then we need to look pretty precisely at what questions we want answers to.”