Northwich proved to be an inspiration for visitors from Scandinavia last week as delegates visited the town as part of a short fact-finding mission.
The groups, who were from Norway and Sweden, were in England as part of a study tour to look at the effectiveness of small and medium-sized business improvement districts and Northwich was chosen as the perfect example.
Neither Sweden or Norway have BID legislation although Sweden does have a number of small BIDs up and running.
The visiting party, which included Sweden’s CEO of Town & City Management, arrived in Northwich mid-morning and were then given a tour of the traditional high street and a visit to the Barons Quay development; an example of how partnership working can bring about positive changes.
Following this, Northwich BID manager Jane Hough gave a talk at Memorial Court, discussing the history of the BID, the progress made since its inception in 2014 and also highlighting a number of success stories.
Jane showed how the look and feel of the town centre has improved markedly thanks to hanging baskets, railing baskets and the revamp of public realm spaces, citing how partnership working between the BID, Northwich Town Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council has been valuable and effective.
The visitors were impressed with the transformation of Pocket Park which turned from scrubland into a mini oasis in a matter of weeks and took a keen interest in the walled garden hoarding in Witton Street which was installed through the BID to bring a splash of colour to one of the main walkways in town.
Jane then went on to explain how successful events such as the extravaganzas had been developed and grown bigger because of the additional investments BID has provided and how resources such as a new website for the town and strong social media presence have been implemented through the programme.
Following their stay in Northwich, the group then went on to meet with the teams at Liverpool and Southport BIDs to see and hear about further success stories.
On the day, the delegates were joined by Ged Gibbons who was the chief operating officer at Liverpool Commercial Business Improvement District.
He reported very positive feedback from the delegates who had visited Northwich.
“The study group were blown away by the partnership work and strategic development of Northwich Town Centre,” he said.
“They were thrilled and genuinely impressed with what the Northwich Business Improvement District has achieved and the development programme it has managed to implement in a relatively short space of time.”
