Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moray undertaker threatens to quit Elgin’s BID

Post Thumbnail

A Moray undertaker is the latest businessman calling for an end to his involvement in Elgin’s Business Improvement District organisation.

Mark Watson is adamant he should be given as much power to leave the Elgin BID scheme as supermarket giants, Tesco, have to join it.

The owner of William Watson Funeral Directors’ previous refusal to pay a £500 BID levy bill resulted in Sheriff Officers attempting to seize a £25,000 van from his premises.

Although not included in the BID boundary lines drawn in 2009, Tesco will be inside a revised perimeter ahead of BID’s renewal ballot in October and November.

BID manager Gill Neill maintained that Tesco did not opt out of the original BID scheme, but said that Mr Watson’s concerns would be brought up at a board meeting tomorrow.

Mr Watson said: “Five years ago, Tesco said they would not support BID, hence they were removed from the map by a fearful BID committee.

“Last month, they requested to be added to the map as apparently they will now support BID.

“I was told that once a BID area had been established it could not be modified, this is clearly not the case, well not the case it would appear if a ‘big’ rateable value business has their way.

“I simply want to be treated equal to Tesco, if they can choose to be in, I can choose to be out.”

Elgin BID manager Gill Neill said: “The first point to raise is that Tesco did not request to be removed from the boundary. They were never included within the first term boundary.

“I have been back in touch with Mr Watson and explained that I have added his comments to the agenda for the board meeting on Thursday and I will get back to him early next week.”

Tesco manager Martin Reynolds said: “At Tesco, we believe in supporting the city centre , we want to be part of the community and we believe that being aligned to the Business Improvement District will allow us to do that.”

Moray councillors yesterday agreed to continue financial backing for the initiative if the renewal ballot is successful.

Councillor Allan Wright, committee chairman, said that with the increased financial support being sought plus its annual levy, the council would be contributing a total of £365,000 over the next five years.

“That,” he said, “is a big ask.”

Council convener Stewart Cree said he wanted to see an acknowledgement in the Elgin BID’s operating plan that it would move towards self-financing status rather than continue to be reliant on the council taxpayer.

On that basis the committee approved unanimously an annual contribution of £55,000 for the next five years.