The man charged with overseeing the revitalisation of Birmingham's Broad Street will tell bar owners, hoteliers and traders tonight that they have to change the public perception of the entertainment district.

Mike Olley, the new £50,000-a-year manager of the Broad Street Business Improvement District, will spell out his vision for the city's "golden mile" at the BIDs first general meeting.

The former Labour city councillor said he would also be "doing a lot of listening" to the concerns of more than 300 businesses involved with the new project.

The BID will see them contribute £1.7 million over the next five years to deliver a brighter, cleaner and safer environment in the Broad Street area.

The area has suffered from a reputation for attracting drink-fuelled disorder in recent years. However, recent crime figures have been more encouraging for local traders.

The general meeting is the first of the biannual gatherings set to take place and Mr Olley's first official engagement at the BID since he became manager when he left his Tyburn council seat in the summer.

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He said: "The biggest area of concern for the BID is to change the public perception of Broad Street.

"I have spent a lot of time in and around Broad Street and I have not seen any trouble. I liaise with the police regularly, and apart from the usual handbags, there has been very little trouble on Broad Street.

"It is a very calm environment, but we are stuck with the perception and we have to change that."

The role of the BID manager is to ensure the effective delivery of services and initiatives that are to be rolled out on Broad Street under the scheme.

Mr Olley will also liaise with other service providers and act as an "advocate and trouble- shooter" for stakeholders.

One of his top priorities is to stop Broad Street being closed to traffic if council-organised events are taking place elsewhere in the city centre.

Mr Olley said "We have already started to make a difference in stopping people just closing the street.

"When there is something happening in Millennium Point or with Artsfest, the council just shuts off Broad Street at the drop of a hat.

"The businesses can suffer a drop in trade of 15 per cent under these circumstances, which is unacceptable.

"But now the street has someone who can help to stop this happening." Mr Olley said his specific role at the BID was difficult to define, as there were only 12 such bodies across the UK which had all been in existence for less than six months.

He said: "There are so many different aspects to this job, but I really want to be doing a lot of listening - more so than talking."

Cash for the BID scheme is raised through a rates system, which involves bars and nightclubs paying two per cent of their business rates, offices and hotels paying one per cent, and businesses from surrounding areas paying 0.5 per cent to fund it.