City's waterfront firms set to vote on funding plans

BUSINESS PLAN AIMS TO RAISE ALMOST £2 MILLION IN LEVIES

- WILLIAM TELFORD

PLYMOUTH businesses are to vote on a plan which would see them pay nearly £2 million which will then be spent on improving the city’s waterfront in the next five years.

The Plymouth Waterfront Partnership Business Improvement District (PWP BID) has revealed a new business plan for 2022 to 2027. It envisages £1,883,430 being raised from a levy on businesses and supplemented with another £100,000 from other sources.

Funding from levy payers will then be spent on improving the “experiential retail offer” of the city’s vast waterfront “in line with customer expectations and emerging trends”, as well as attracting new investors and providing other reasons to visit Britain’s Ocean City.

The plan, which supports a vision to grow visitor numbers to six million a year by 2030, will be put to a ballot, which takes place between October 27 and November 25.