MEMBERS of the team behind an innovative scheme to improve business in Okehampton have laid out their proposed timeline for the next year.

The town's Business Improvement District (BID) is being spearheaded by a steering group of six local business people in conjunction with the Devon Renaissance (DR) Company.

Ian Courtenay from the steering group and Tim Beavon from The DR Company attended the town council's planning committee meeting on Monday to discuss the BID process, and their projected timeline for the project over 2012.

A BID is a partnership between a local authority and the local business community to develop projects and services that will benefit the trading environment within a set area.

Potential elements of the BID plan put forward at the planning meeting include display screens, signage on the A30, parking concessions, marketing and training opportunities.

It is funded by a levy on the businesses within the BID boundary, but is dependent on support from at least 75% of those businesses.

A BID can only be formed following a consultation period and a ballot, in which businesses then vote on a BID proposal of a business plan for the area.

The consultation period for the Okehampton BID will take place over the next eleven months, with the ballot planned to take place in January 2013.

From now until the ballot, the team will build a detailed proposal based on the desires and requests of business people within the town. The team have started a series of briefings for key organisations, with the first being the town council on Monday.

Following that, the team will have a leaflet drop to all businesses in the town, and launch a website for the Okehampton BID.

The team will then hold the first open meeting in March for business people to come along, ask questions and share their thoughts on the potential positives or negatives of the BID scheme.

The second open meeting will take place in May, with the team putting forward project ideas at that point based on the previous meeting and discussions with business people.

The third meeting in October will have a firmer outline business plan, and following further consultation with local businesses, the proposal will be forwarded to West Devon Borough Council for formal application in November.

The ballot will then take place in January 2013, with the earliest start point for the BID being February 2013 should it get voted through.