WHEN traders voted to set up a Business Improvement District in Colchester in June last year, some people may have expected the town centre’s fortunes to change overnight.

Sadly this isn’t quite how things work in the real world.

Our Colchester Business Improvement District (BID) is an organisation planning for the long-term with a five-year remit.

The group entered its second year at the beginning of October and BID manager Sam Good is confident the organisation will seem like increasingly good value to its funders.

He says the BID is now on a solid foundation to push on and make some big changes in the town centre.

He said: “I think understandably the levy payers, who are the people who have contributed their money, want to see stuff delivered on day one which is difficult to deliver.

“I am happy with where we are at the moment.

“It may feel to some like we have not achieved as much as we as we should have, but we are set up well for years two, three, four and five.

“We are really happy with the way we are getting on and we are positively set up for the future.”

In its first 12 months, Mr Good says the focus was on the cleanliness of the town, improving perceptions and tackling the number of empty units.

“We launched the Neat Street campaign as part of the council’s Better Colchester campaign which has been really good,” he said.

“Next year we are looking to expand that a lot further. We have 51 businesses sign up so far.”

The BID and Firstsite have teamed up and the group will work with artist Mark Titchner to create bespoke artwork for empty units in the town.

Residents will be invited to have their say on the pieces too at a number of workshops planned for the town.

Mr Good said: “The long term plan is finding viable alternatives to empty units such as pop-up opportunities for new businesses.”

A number of other schemes have also been launched.

Mr Good said: “In the first year we set up and funded the DISC system for the night time economy.”

The system sees businesses sharing details of town centre troublemakers.

“So far we have 97 users registered on the system and a total of 12 people have been banned from night time establishments,” said Mr Good.

“We are looking to launch it into the day time economy as well.

“We launched the BID In Bloom campaign in April which we have committed to run for the next three years.

“We planted more than 115 planters around the town centre focusing on the gateways.

“The feedback has been really positive, especially on Queen Street.

“We have even had members of the public deheading some of the flowers as if it was their garden.

“Next year we are looking to expand that and see how we can get the community involved such as the schools and community groups.”

One of the most significant developments has been the creation of In Colchester - a new consumer brand and website managed by the BID.

It brings together all things Colchester town centre, offering competitions, offers and an events list.

Mr Good said it is something the town had badly missing.

“Since we launched it on August 1 it has taken off and is getting some traction,” he said.

“We have also launched our Create fund this year which provides support for things like events.”

He added: “Year one focused on improving the perception of the town centre and building foundations for the five year plan.

“It was about getting the basic stuff right, which I think we have done.

“In year two we are moving towards our objective to make Colchester the best possible place to live, work and visit.”

The BID’s plans include launching a new loyalty card scheme specifically for Colchester.

Also on the agenda is a BID transport plan for Colchester.

Mr Good said: “We are looking at how we can form a transport strategy for the BID based around the levy payers and how they feel about transport in general but also engaging with the consumers asking what they struggle with and asking how we can help.

“It is all about how we can get more footfall into the town centre. It might involve a campaign based around different modes of getting into the town centre.”

There are proposals to look at security in the town centre and a new national retailer focus group has already hit the ground running.

The BID is also formulating plans to run four separate town centre events between now and October 2020. This will include Christmas festivities, a food festival and a child-friendly celebration of the town centre.

Mr Good said: “There have been challenges for us since launching, such as building a database of business from scratch, but we have really engaged with the community around the town.

“I am really excited and we have some really good projects for year two.”