We offer direct Business Support in many ways. Our ambassadors Phil, Deb and Carolyn are out all over the BID zone every day, making regular visits to our businesses and greeting visitors to the town. They deal with issues including uncollected rubbish, broken street furniture and anti-social behaviour. We are helping ensure money stays in the town with our Cheltenham Gift Card. If you’re looking for the prefect Christmas gift, this is it. The recipient really will be able to buy the present they want. See www. cheltenhamgiftcard.co.uk. We have partnered with Cheltenham-based The Logical Utilities Company to offer all BID businesses significant savings on their gas and electricity bills. With our Public Realm work, ourTidy Up Cheltenham
Our lobbying work is important in Parking and Accessibility , where we asked the county council and Stagecoach to ensure that Arle Court Park and Ride was only used by people wanting to come into the town centre. A new scheme has stopped surrounding businesses abusing the system. The BID’s fourth year is already well underway with a new-look late-night shopping event in addition to a new twist to our Christmas lights switch-on. Light Up Cheltenham will feature some new buildings – and the popular giant wheel will return to Imperial Gardens. We have tackled some key safety issues in the town by funding three life-saving defibrillators – one being the first 24-hour defib in the town centre in a red telephone on The Promenade. And we have also sponsored the Cheltenham Guardians’ new emergency care team vehicle, which is a crucial part of their patrols on Saturday nights. And a new CCTV camera paid for by the BID in Ormond Place will bring greater security to the Regent Street area. We are also supporting the Town Centre Team, which will see agencies of all kinds working more closely together to tackle anti-social behaviour. On public realm, we have a commitment from both the borough and county councils that the long overdue work to resurface The Strand, Cambray Place and Grosvenor Terrace will happen during 2020. Our support has also helped two festivals happen in September – the expanded Paint Festival and the new Wellbeing Festival. The Festival Town is going from strength to strength – and the BID continues to be a main driving force l For more information visit cheltenhambid.co.uk or telephone 01242 571123
campaign has won us a lot of plaudits. One highlight this year saw BID staff and representatives of businesses roll their sleeves up in a one-day clean-up of Regent Street and Ormond Place. We also ran our popular BID in Bloom scheme for a second year, adding 100 displays to 20 businesses. We played a big part this year in lobbying the county council to rethink a controversial digital scheme for business permits.
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