BID Member Weekly News w/c 26th June
- Motorsport East 2023 marketing resources
Available via this link https://www.ourburystedmunds.com/download-the-motorsport-east-2023-social-media-graphics-for-your-marketing/ are marketing resources regarding our Motorsport Event that is taking place on Sunday 16th July. Feel free to use these on your SM channels, to encourage people to visit the event and our businesses that are open that day.
- Independents Day
As we are all aware, one of the USP of our town is the great variety & quality of Independent businesses we have. We promote this fact throughout the year and the vast majority of membership benefits we offer, are predominantly taken up by Independent businesses.
Unsurprisingly we aren’t the only town who promotes their Independent businesses and hence there being a National Campaign in this regard.
Independents’ Day UK is a national campaign that exists to support and promote independent businesses across the UK all year round but with an annual focus around July 4th, this year its across a full weekend, on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd July i.e. this weekend.
Our Bury St Edmunds BID will be posting about Independents Day on our social media channels over the weekend of July 1s and 2nd as well as drawing attention to Independents Day on the 4th of July (also US Independence Day) which coincides with our Tuesday Free From 3 parking initiative, where parking is, free after 3, in every long stay car park and on street parking areas.
If you are an independent business, do tag us on Instagram or Twitter in your posts on Tuesday July 4th and use the hashtag #UKIndiedDayBSE and #UKIndieDay, as we will be promoting our businesses and we will share as many as we can on our Instagram Stories and retweet from our Twitter account.
If you would like to display a Independents’ Day UK poster in your window to join the campaign you can download it now at https://www.ourburystedmunds.com/join-in-independents-day-2023/
- Car Park Improvement works
You may be aware that the work to improve the multi storey car park (from both a safety and aesthetic perspective) has now been completed. What this means is that the Parkway surface car park will revert back to a short stay car park from Monday 31st July.
The improvement works to the St Andrews St North Flexi car park will be carried out on Monday 3 July where a rolling closure will be in place. The driving test centre on St Andrews St North has already been liaised with to ensure that the works do not impact on driving tests.
This work will not impact on the Wilcos part of the car park, so shoppers visiting the store and the town centre will be able to carry on as normal.
Then on Tuesday 4th July the relining of School Yard East and School Yard West will take place.
Both sets of work are scheduled to be completed within one day.
- Eco Carrier home delivery scheme
You are probably all aware of the rickshaws that you see around the town working with the vulnerable and infirm and transporting them into the town.
A few months ago the scheme introduced a home delivery service whereby the public could buy/order goods and for a small fee pay to have them delivered to their homes.
This pilot was encouraging but there is a view that the profile of this service needs to be raised so more of the public are aware of it as well as looking to improve the efficiency of the service, whilst also increasing the capacity of the scheme.
It is hoped that by the end of the summer, some funding will be made available, to assist the scheme to achieve these ambitions.
Providing a service that can reduce car use and encourage people to shop locally, with an emphasis upon Independent businesses, is obviously something we would like to support.
I would be most grateful if you contact me if you would be interested in becoming involved in this initiative and/or if you have any thoughts about how the scheme could be improved.
- Consultation with WSC regarding Public Space Protection Orders
Currently there is a PSPO in place in regards of the Town Centre, which enables the Police to seize alcohol from those who are or may be acting in an Anti Social Behaviour manner.
This, in my opinion, is an essential option to enable the Police to prevent ASB escalating and detrimentally affecting businesses and visitors to the town. These orders require reviewing and this is required to take place before the end of the summer.
West Suffolk Council are seeking the views of businesses and residents about whether the order could continue.
I firmly believe that the order should be renewed and if it isn’t then the Police could only take affirmative action once offences are committed and that makes little sense to me.
Therefore I would ask that you and your staff find the time to complete this very short survey PSPO, CIA and dog exclusion zone survey (smartsurvey.co.uk) commenting upon the order for our town centre.
