Solihull Business Improvement District has joined forces with other BIDs across the region to share best practice and lobby the Government on issues of common concern to town centres.

Solihull BID, which recently secured a second five-year term with a 72 per cent yes vote, has created the regional forum BID Central.

BID Central’s first meeting was attended by BIDs from Rugby, Worcester, Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, Leamington Spa, Sutton Coldfield and Wolverhampton.

Among the issues it addressed were the evening economy, effective town centre marketing and how BIDs can strengthen relationships with stakeholders such as the Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Melanie Palmer, director of Solihull BID who chaired the meeting, said: “This initiative came about for two reasons. Firstly, having had some meetings at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, I realised BIDs simply aren’t fully on the Government’s radar and yet we are a highly effective forum for engaging with and supporting town centres – something government is keen to do. We can help give town centres a voice.

“I had also recently been on fact-finding visits to some of other BIDs across the region and realised that, not only are we a more powerful voice together, but we also all have valuable experience and information to share with each other that could support our work to promote and improve town centres across the Midlands.”

Adrian Field, who heads Worcester BID added: “The value of BIDs getting together and swapping ideas and common interest areas is something we hope to have harnessed through BID Central and we now want to ensure it provides an even better service to the businesses who fund BIDs.

“BIDs are now an established and well-respected mechanism to support town and city centres and we need to ensure our voices are heard and best practice is shared.”