Taunton has an interesting BID history:
2007 - BID established after a YES ballot result, with a 5 year term ending in 2012.
2012 - BID renewal ballot resulted in a NO, so BID kicked out.
2014 - BID development ballot resulted in a NO again (with a worse result than in 2012).
2020 - Some bright sparks decide to bring BID back to ballot again, and the ballot was ‘suspended’ 2 hours before ballot closure for no good verifiable reason, so NO BID yet again! Interesting that when one of the BID proposer steering group members was asked what happened to the BID he replied “we knew it wasn’t going our way”.
The following is a series of articles are from the hard fought NO campaign for the 2020 ballot, which basically beat the Council and BID proposers into submission. You can see how the campaign developed and many strong evidence based NO arguments were put across, so please read with interest and feel free to copy / use any article tailored for your own NO BID campaign.
The following images are from the 8 page vote NO campaign booklet produced for the ballot. Download a copy here.
SWT failed in their legislated BID responsibilities by breaking government BID regulations, and with it Minehead BID as their ‘partners in crime’ have shown a lack of proper financial planning, accountability and transparency. Consequently, Minehead BID year 2 levy bills are invalid. Contrary to what Taunton BID say, this is just further proof of the way BID companies get away doing what they want, whilst leaving levy payers none the wiser.
Read MoreTaunton BID have so far declined to make public the amount of Council money backing their YES campaign, but our own research shows SWT Council have given them £45,000. The key take-away from this is demonstration of Taunton BIDs’ lack of openness and transparency, and when you also consider their mistruths and lies, it becomes clearer by the day how BID’s operate and why Taunton BID can’t be trusted again.
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