The Northwich Business Improvement District (BID) has once again earned praise from European visitors after delegates from Norway visited the town to study the effectiveness of BIDs.

The party of Norwegians included representatives from large businesses, marketing agencies, local authorities, an environmental organisation and town centre managers, all of whom were on a fact-finding mission.

BID officer Mark Henshaw was a member of the welcome party who took the visitors on a tour of the town centre and he received positive feedback regarding projects delivered within Northwich as well as the services and events that are provided throughout the year.

“Delegates were impressed with the Northwich BID seeing the importance of the environment and investments into the image of the town, and commented on how good Pocket Park looks which acts as a really eye-catching space when entering the town centre through the Bull Ring.

“The cleanliness of the streets was also remarked upon, as was the number of independents which are on the traditional High Street alongside major national retailers.”

On top of this, visitors were also stirred by news of the town’s seasonal extravaganzas which draw in crowds in their thousands and the level of promotion for not only these events, but for businesses and their products and services.

“All of the people who attended really liked the idea of running extravaganzas and saw it as a great opportunity to bring the business community together and showcase the town to people from the local area and maybe even further afield,” said Mark.

“They were also shown our social media platforms and some of the marketing produced and they were blown away by the sheer amount of materials published and created on a monthly, weekly and daily basis – it’s something many are keen to look to recreate back in Norway.”

Finally, there were also positive comments about how the BID negotiated and liaised with autonomous organisations such as the Environment Agency and Balfour Beatty to help minimise the disruption caused by the flood defence works and the building of Barons Quay, with Mark noting how important some delegates felt this was.

“When potentially disruptive works are taking place it’s vitally important to ensure those business affected know the full details so they can make necessary arrangements. The Norwegian visitors took this on board and said they would relay this back to businesses and governing bodies in Norway.”

This trip was the second time representatives from Scandinavia have chosen to visit Northwich and the Northwich BID, as a number of countries in that part of the world are considering the introduction of BIDs there.