The proposal to set up a Business Improvement District company to work to improve the prosperity and vibrancy of Clonmel will go on public display in August and the people of the town will be invited to submit their views on the initiative.
It will be the first step in a six month process that will culminate in the holding of a plebiscite vote of the town’s rate payers in January on whether to set up the BID company.
Public Meeting
Meanwhile, the town’s business community is invited to attend a public meeting at the Talbot Hotel in Clonmel on Tuesday, September 2 to hear how creating a Business Improvement District has improved the prosperity and vibrancy of Sligo town.
Sligo’s BID company CEO and representatives of that town’s business community will share their experience of setting up and running a BID company to increase public footfall and the economy of their town at the meeting.
The public meeting is being organised by the new group of Clonmel business people that is working to replicate what Sligo has done and create a BID company for their town to help address the problems it is currently facing.
Tipperary Chamber CEO Michelle Aylward and Clonmel Town Team Chairman Noel Buckley updated councillors on the project to create a BID company in Clonmel at Tipperary County Council’s July meeting last week.
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Ms Aylward outlined how more than 20 business owners in Clonmel along with the Clonmel Town team and County Tipperary Chamber have come together to create a Business Improvement District in Clonmel and the group also included Tipperary County Council representatives.
She explained a Business Improvement District was where businesses collaborate together to make the district cleaner, safer, more vibrant and economically strong.
She said over the past 12 months they have conducted research on BID and worked with towns like Sligo and Drogheda that have successfully gone through a BID process.
“The vision is to become a vibrant Clonmel where businesses can thrive and communities can flourish. Our mission is to deliver projects and services that will enhance Clonmel – to make Clonmel the best version of itself for its residents and businesses.”
Noel Buckley said the Covid pandemic has impacted all Irish towns along with the development of online commerce and out of town shopping.
Clonmel, like every town, has faced the challenges of footfall remaining low, its building vacancy rate and anti-social behaviour rising while local spend has declined.
“Rather than standing idly by and waiting we are very fortunate we have 25 business people sitting around the table putting the BID proposal together.”
The retired teacher explained a BID company would not replace the works and functions of the local authority but instead enhance its work.
He said a delegation that included Clonmel’s Mayor visited Sligo to find out what impact its BID company had on the town and they were impressed with what they saw.
Mr Buckley said Sligo BID company did so much work on improving the Christmas lights and introducing attractions like an ice rink that people were now visiting the town specially for the Christmas experience while the town’s St Patrick’s Day celebration is now a three day festival.
He said a BID company will enable greater promotion of shop local initiatives in Clonmel like the Love Tipperary Card.
The Sligo BID company identified strategic partners to work with and developed a brand for the town. “We aim to do the same, linking up with tourism bodies.”
Mr Buckley also outlined how Sligo’s BID company introduced a Purple App for collecting data about anti-social behaviour. This enabled the company to supply hard data on anti-social behaviour when it met the Garda superintendent and strengthened the town’s case for more Garda resources.
Funding of BID
Mr Buckley explained a BID company would be funded through a levy calculated on a formula based on the commercial rate bill paid by each rate payer. There are 828 rate payers within the defined area of Clonmel’s proposed Business Improvement District.
“If somebody is paying a rate bill of €3,000 a year they will pay €150 into a BID levy.”
He said 78% of Clonmel’s rate payers pay a rates bill under €6,000 a year, 179 rate payers pay a rates bill of no more than €1,000 a year.
One rate payer informed him the BID levy would be cheaper than the €200 he paid at the moment for the town’s Christmas lights. “He said to me ‘this is a win, win for me and I can write it off my tax bill’.”
Mr Buckley explained once the town’s business people voted in favour of setting up a BID company, the levy to fund the company would be paid by all rate payers in the town including large multi-nationals and chain stores.
“We have seven companies paying between €100,000 and €200,000 in rates. They will be able to substantially contribute to a BID fund.
It’s estimated the Clonmel BID levy will generate an annual fund of €350,000 with the potential to use that fund to leverage for other funding.
Plebiscite of Rate Payers
He pointed out the BID company will only be set up if rate payers within Clonmel BID area vote in favour of it through a plebiscite vote.
He outlined an advertisement about the Clonmel BID proposal will be published in local newspapers on July 31 and it will be available for inspection at council offices in Clonmel.
The public can make submissions on the proposal up to September 5 and a report on these submissions will then be completed by the Council and BID proponents.
A letter will be sent to the Council on November 26 triggering the plebiscite of rate payers, who will receive ballot papers on January 5. Closing date for return of ballot papers will be January 22 with the count taking place the next day.
Tipperary County Council’s elected members will vote on February 9 on whether to approve the Clonmel BID proposal.
Mr Buckley said a BID company operates for five years and rate payers will vote again on whether to continue it. “If it’s not working in the interests of rate payers and the interests of the town, it risks being voted out of existence,” he pointed out.
The Clonmel BID proposal was enthusiastically welcomed by most Clonmel Borough District councillors at the Council meeting with Independent Cllr Niall Dennehy the only dissenting voice. He claimed the BID company would be a “quango” with much of its funding spent on staff including a CEO on a salary of €100,000.
He criticised the proposed BID levy as another tax on business and declared he wouldn’t be endorsing the proposal. He argued the proposal highlighted the impotence and powerlessness of Clonmel Borough District.
Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Pat English said while he agreed with Cllr Dennehy’s comments about the decline in local authority powers, he stressed the BID was separate to the Council.
He described the presentation as “excellent” and paid tribute to the work done by the group in progressing the initiative.
“It will be very positive for the town of Clonmel. It has worked well for Sligo and Drogheda, and if it worked well for them, it will work well for Clonmel and I am fully behind it,” he declared.
Anyone with a query about the Clonmel BID company process can email Noel Buckley at: bidsclonmel@gmail.com.
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