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Ilkley BID Ltd announce Manager and voluntary Board of Directors

 

The newly formed company, Ilkley BID Ltd, which will operate the Business Improvement District in Ilkley has appointed Helen Rhodes as BID Manager with effect from 1st June. Helen has been involved with the development of the Business Improvement District since February 2018 and co-ordinated the project that led to a successful ballot in March 2019 which demonstrated a high level of support to implement a BID in Ilkley.

 

The role was advertised both locally and nationally and applications were received from candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds. The selection process included input from Catherine Mitton, Executive Director of The BID Foundation who travelled from Surrey to take part in interviewing the short-listed candidates.

 

Fiona Robinson, HR Manager at Virtual College and Ilkley BID Director was part of the interview panel and commented “The recruitment panel interviewed 4 people from the 16 who expressed an interest in the role. The process consisted of a presentation, formal interview and workplace behaviour assessment. The standards were very high from all candidates and the deciding factors were Helen’s extensive business experience across a variety of sectors, knowledge of the town and passion to see the BID Business Plan implemented.”

 

Ilkley BID appointed a voluntary Board of Directors at its first general meeting, the board members represent a wide range of Ilkley businesses and will make the decisions on which projects the BID will deliver and how the income will be spent.

 

The board members are Clive Allen from Westbrook Agency, Sarah Barr-Young from Stowe Family Law, Louise Hale from Ilkley Community Enterprise, Mark Heppinstall from Stowe Family Law, Nicola Hill from The Lister Arms, Stuart Hyde from The Clarke Foley Centre, Emma Lishman from Lishman’s of Ilkley, John Oddy from Ascentis LLP, Sarita Prashar from Tesco, Fiona Robinson from Virtual College, Sarah Siddons from Sarah Siddons Financial Planning, Caz Stewart from The Secret Drawer, Lee Teal from Love Brownies, Ian White from Bluehoop Digital and Liam Wilton from Moin Moin Backerei. Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw will represent Bradford Council on the board but will not be a Director of the company.

 

Lee Teal from Love Brownies commented: “It’s great that so many businesses want to be involved in implementing the BID business plan and this team brings some really strong skills to the table. We are all eager to get going with some of the projects that were suggested over the last year and I’m looking forward to seeing the results this can deliver.”

 

The BID will come into operation on 1st June and will raise in the region of £130k per annum for 5 years to be spent on improvements to the town, focusing on projects to help town centre businesses.

 

The Business Plan can be viewed online – www.ilkleybid.co.uk.

 

Anyone who would like any further information about Ilkley BID should contact Helen by emailing info@ilkleybid.co.uk