Meeting with The Mayor of York & North Yorkshire

Ripon BID has recently met with Mayor David Skaith.

It was great to have another opportunity to meet with our new Mayor of York & North Yorkshire and fellow Y&NY colleagues in the same field. It was particularly interesting to see that the answers to the questions posed were aligned across many centres.

The worry over the proposed £15 minimum wage was raised as were business rates, the need for banking hubs and solutions to tackle empty units – which we are proud to say we are already addressing in Ripon with the combined authority funded The Vacant Shops Academy programme.

The Vacant Shops Academy approach is designed on a partnership model to embed the methodology in Ripon. The approach is easily transferable, so that, once learned, local placemaking teams can manage the process long term. Work has already started on the audit and we look forward to continuing to engage with businesses, agents, landlords and stakeholders.