THE ILKLEY BID board has welcomed the appointment of Ian White as its Chairman, replacing Stuart Hyde who has recently stepped down.

Ian has been involved with the Ilkley BID since the initial development stages and has a wealth of business experience and digital marketing expertise after founding the website design company Bluehoop Digital in 2009.

He will be working directly with Helen Rhodes, the BID Manager, who returns to the role on a part time basis.

Helen says:“On behalf of the BID team, I would like to thank Stuart for all his hard work, commitment and passion that he displayed in his role of Chair. Stuart was instrumental in developing and establishing the Ilkley BID and has been heavily involved with all stakeholders in supporting the town as a business and leisure destination of choice.”

Ian said:“It has not been an easy couple of years for our local businesses due to the pandemic, and I am looking forward to working closely with Helen and the wider team to introduce further effective strategies and initiatives to support the local economy and help the town flourish.

“The BID has been responsible for some exciting projects to support our local businesses and attract visitors to Ilkley. These include the establishment of the Discover Ilkley brand, with a dedicated website, interactive digital trails and apps to drive footfall, as well as innovative ways to make Ilkley a more attractive place to live, work and visit including street cleaning, extension of the Christmas lights and Station Road planting, to name just a few examples.

“We are now looking to recruit a full-time Project Co-ordinator to work alongside Helen, delivering our next set of projects and to ensure our members have a dedicated contact point.”

Details of the role can be found at www.ilkleybid.co.uk.

Ilkley BID was allocated more than £300k by Bradford Council as part of the Governments Additional Restrictions Grant scheme which has funded some of the recent projects and will also deliver free town centre Wi-Fi, an Ilkley Gift Card to encourage people to shop local and will cover the cost of further street cleaning.

In the meantime the board is asking businesses to complete a brief survey, with the results forming part of an overall assessment of its work to help shape plans going forward.

The survey can be found at ILKLEY TOWN CENTRE BID SURVEY (surveymonkey.com)

A paper copy can be requested at info@ilkleybid.co.uk.