LEVY payers are being urged to make their voice heard in a ballot that will determine the future of the Dartmouth Business Improvement District ­– once and for all.

BID directors say: ‘Whichever side of the fence that you are on, please vote. We really want to know whether you want the BID to continue or not and this is your opportunity to make your views known.’

With days to go before the election, Dartmouth mayor Rob Lyon said he believed it would be a ‘disaster’ if the BID was to fold.

While Cllr Richard Rendle claimed the BID had brought disgrace to the town and any hope of it surviving was only possible with a ‘clean board’ of new management.

The fate of the controversial organisation will be decided in a make-or-break ballot of all businesses next week.

An extraordinary general meeting of the BID will be held in the Guildhall Ballroom, Victoria Road, on Tuesday at 5.30pm when members are invited to ask any questions concerning the two proposals regarding the future of The BID.

It will also be an opportunity for those who have not already voted on the proposals to post their ballot paper in the sealed ballot box.

The result of the ballot will not be announced at the EGM. The outcome will not be known until the votes are counted by South Hams Council,which is scrutinising the vote, the next day.

The BID board says it will meet to discuss the result and hopes to be able to confirm the result to all members by email either late during the evening of Wednesday, May 11, or on the morning of Thursday, May 12.

The BID has divided the town since its inception some two years ago. Those campaigning for it to fold believe it was badly set-up without proper consultation and has failed in its delivery.

Those wanting to keep it believe it is an opportunity Dartmouth cannot turn its back on and, rather than closing the company, another option is changing the management.

The town council wants to keep the BID. At a special meeting in the Guildhall last Thursday, councillors voted by nine to four against a move by BID directors to wind up the company with effect from the end of May.

The council pays a levy on around half-a-dozen properties but only gets one vote on the proposal to close the BID.

Despite having serious reservations over the handling of the BID scheme, the majority of councillors felt it was too much of an important opportunity for Dartmouth to abandon. Many said if it was to be saved, it was vital for a new management structure to be put in place.

The council also voted in favour of altering the BID’s articles of association, which will enable funds to be returned to levy payers should it fold.

Cllr Steve Smith said the council had said right at the beginning of the BID that it needed to do something to support town traders.

‘My view is that nothing’s changed and we need to stand by our guns,’ he said. ‘This is our last hope.’

Cllr Tony Fyson said the effectiveness of the BID so far left ‘an awful lot to be desired’. ‘But the potential is still there to use the pot of money effectively,’ he said.

He said he would like to see a move away from ‘airy fairy marketing and a revamp of specific projects’.

Cllr Tessa de Galleani said you had to remember that the much talked about ‘pot of money’ which would be lost was actually paid for by small shopkeepers in the town who had received little benefit from the BID.

Cllr David Gent said he had some time ago referred to the BID as being accident prone and had little confidence in an organisation that couldn’t even get its articles of association in order. He said a trader had told him that all the BID had done was take money from small shops and given it to consultants.

Mayor Rob Lyon reminded the meeting that the council had voted to join the BID.

‘At the time we felt that not to have that money to spend in the town would be a mistake,’ he said.

‘In certain areas, money has not been spent wisely. But I don’t think there is anything that can’t be put right in the future. And my will would be to try to keep it going. I think it would be a great disaster if we did away with that money.’

Cllr Francis Hawke said he believed in the principal of a BID which supported Dart­mouth and the promotion of the town, the local traders and TIC, but clearly things had not gone right.Though he said something had to be done because at the moment ‘we are going downhill fast’.

And he said he would support the BID because he believed it was the right thing for Dartmouth, but it had to be organised properly.

Cllr Les Barnes said he was amazed that anybody would want to support the BID, which had ‘shot itself in the foot from day one’.

He said shops were simply selling thing for tourists and he was backing those at the ‘top of town’ who felt the BID had done little for them and wanted to see the back of it.

Cllr Richard Rendle describ­ed the BID as a huge lost opportunity for Dart­mouth, which was a big disappointment, but it also needed to recognise it was not the first level of local government and did not own the town.

‘We are not a community to look after the BID, we are a community to look after the community, including the BID,’ he said. ‘It has all gone wrong and I cannot believe any organisation has brought such disgrace to this town by putting people in court to pay their bills.’

He said to be swayed in favour of keeping the BID he would want an undertaking that all ‘stupid mistakes of the past’ would not happen again.

Afterwards, Dartmouth Chamber of Trade chairman Dave Cawley said he hoped the organisation would be given a stronger voice on the BID board if it was to survive. 

‘If the BID stays, the newly managed chamber of trade will ask that two of its directors could join as directors of the BID,’ he said.

The BID said it wanted to encourage as many members as possible to take advantage of the postal voting facility and return the ballot paper to South Hams Council. It said the EGM was for members only and because they were not able to gauge the number of people who were likely to attend it would help if people did not bring guests.