COUNCIL chiefs could investigate whether to set up Business Improvement Districts for Barnoldswick and Nelson.

A report will go before Pendle Council’s policy and resources committee next week recommending members back proposals to carry out feasibility studies into establish BIDs in both towns at a cost of £9,000. Colne was the first town in Pendle to have a BID following a successful ballot in June last year.

If approved, bosses estimate it would take about eight weeks to gauge opinion and explore the technical and financial feasibility of establishing a BID for each town. The planning and consultation stage would then take between nine months to a year, before a vote would take place. The development stage through to implementation is a longer process and estimated costs of approximately £28,500 per town.

It is recommended that the Barnoldswick feasibility exercise is undertaken first , with the Nelson study to be undertaken after the current master planning process has been completed in Spring.

The feasibility reports would then be submitted to a future policy and resources committee outlining the findings and recommendations.