DARTMOUTH Business Improvement District is set to fold.

Chairman Peter Conisbee told tonight’s annual meeting that the troubled organisation was to be wound up due to lack of support.

The shock announcement was met with loud cheers and a round of applause from the 100 or so people present in the Clifton Room at the Guildhall.

The Dartmouth BID will be formally dissolved at an extraordinary general meeting to be called at the end of April and all funds in the BID account returned to levy payers.

Mr Conisbee said the decision had been made after ‘astonishingly’ only one person had put themselves forward as a director for the board.

He said it marked a turning point and demonstrated clearly - if there was any doubt - that businesses in Dartmouth simply did not support the BID.

‘So it’s time for us to face reality,’ he said. ‘The businesses in the town have spoken and the inevitable conclusion is simple, this BID is not working.

‘We can’t run the BID without the support of businesses in the town and so I am sorry to say that the board cannot see a viable way forward and has therefore made the sad but unanimous decision to propose closing the BID down.’

Mr Conisbee said the BID had been looking to recruit a minimum of seven directors to bring the board up to strength.

‘It is no secret that we have been really struggling to deliver the current business plan and we need to build a stronger board before we can recruit a new BID manager,’ he said.

He said the Dartmouth BID was a democratic organisation. ‘It’s not our BID, it’s your BID,‘ he said. ‘It’s funded by your levy payments and its purpose is to deliver your business plan to make our town a better place with greater businesses opportunities and a healthier economy.

‘This is a partnership. Whilst we have the responsibility to run the BID, it is you the business community that have also a responsibility.’

Mr Conisbee admitted the BID had made some serious errors, particularly in the beginning regarding the levy levels and confusion over geographical boundaries.

‘These were errors that we have never recovered from,’ he said.

‘Right from the start we have received a constant daily drone of complaints and criticisms that never let up and contributed significantly to the loss of both our BID managers, each of them after only a few months in the job.

‘The BID team, directors and associates, have also suffered a slow decline as they too have become disillusioned.’

Mr Conisbee said the BID team had been accused of not listening to complaints.

‘I can absolutely promise you this has not been the case,’ he said. ‘We have listened but you may not have always received the answers you were hoping for, often because our hands have been tied by the BID legislation, the operating agreement that we have with South Hams Council and to an extent by the business plan.’

Mr Conisbee said little under a year ago the board had looked into the possibility of making significant changes to the BID in an attempt to address complaints and suggestions.

But the advice received at the time was that this was simply not a viable option.

He said some six to eight weeks ago, prompted by the knowledge that the BID was unsupported by the town and partly by a desire to incorporate a funding solution into the TIC problems, more detailed investigations were made into how the BID could be altered into a format that was more acceptable.

He said the idea was create a slimmed down version of the current BID but with lower levy levels, possibly slightly different geographical boundaries and a more realistic business plan but one that included a vision to take over the running of the TIC.

But this would have involved organising an alteration ballot and there would be a great deal of work involved and significant costs from funds with no guarantee it would achieve any greater support than exists for the current scheme.

‘In short, our view is that this plan remains unviable and would be unlikely to solve the underlying problem of lack of resources and lack of support ,’ he said.

‘The directors that are here with me tonight have soldiered on trying to deliver what many believe to be a very ambitious business plan in the face of constant negativity and bad publicity giving time that they can ill afford because they and I believe in the concept of the BID and that Dartmouth is a better place with a BID than without it.

‘But it is a fact that some of you seem to delight in picking holes in just about everything we do.’

Mr Conisbee said while clearly those present saw the closure of he BID as a cause for celebration the board believed it would be a huge loss for the town and would lose the best chance of saving the TIC.

Artist and businessman Simon Drew said he had been against the BID but he accepted it had been established under a democratic process and it should carry on because that was what was voted for and that was how all elections worked.

He said he believed the directors had put their heart into trying to make the the BID work.

‘And I feel that some people who didn’t vote couldn’t give a stuff about the town,’ he said.More on this story and reaction in next Friday's Chronicle