PENARTH traders have voted overwhelmingly against plans for a Business Improvement District (BID) in the town centre.

Nearly 65 per cent of businesses voted No in the ballot, with the No vote representing more than 63 per cent of the aggregate rateable value of votes cast.

For the BID to be approved more than 50 per cent of votes cast needed to be in favour, and a 'yes' vote needed to represent more than 50 per cent of the aggregate rateable value of votes cast.

After a month long ballot the results were announced by the Vale council monitoring officer earlier this morning.

There was a 59 per cent turnout for the ballot, with 134 businesses out of 227 eligible taking part.

86 were against the proposals, with 48 in favour. The aggregate rateable value (ARV) of each business that voted was £2,045,000, with the ARV of those in favour amounting to £752,250.

Following the announcement a spokesman from Penarth BID said: “Disappointed to hear the Penarth BID ballot was unsuccessful.”

Local trader Nick Osborne, who had campaigned against the Penarth BID and vowed to set up a Chamber of Trade in its place, said he was very pleased with the result and impressed by the turnout of nearly 60 cent.

He added that he was surprised by the gap between the votes as he thought it would have been much closer.

He added that the BID would have been an “unnecessary expense” for businesses, and said his team would now be looking at re-launching the Chamber of Trade.

“Hopefully the people who were in favour of it will come on board and make their contribution to it,” he said.

“As a Chamber of Trade there is no levy and we can get more value for money.”

It was hoped that the BID would raise £425,000 to invest in Penarth town centre over the space of five years. The BID funding would have come from a levy equivalent to two per cent of a business’ rateable value and be controlled by an independent company run by Penarth businesses.

The initiative aimed to provide better parking and accessibility, marketing and promotion, a strong independents sector and lower business costs in the town centre.

It also aimed to give local traders a stronger voice and help them solve problems in the town.

But opponents to the BID questioned how the money raised from the initiative would be spent and how it could benefit the town, the administration costs to run the BID, and whether there were enough supporters in the town to run the steering group.

They raised concerns about the costs of the BID and whether it represented value for money.

During a meeting to appease opponents to the BID they vowed to resurrect the Chamber of Commerce, saying that it could “galvanize the town” and provide a platform for local businesses with no additional cost.

The ballot, which ran from February 2 until March 2, is expected to have cost up to £5,000.