CONCERNS have been raised about the “validity of the ballot” to decide whether to renew the Business Improvement District (BID) scheme in Aberystwyth after confusion over where ballots were being sent.

The Business Improvement District, run in Aberystwyth by Advancing Aberystwyth, came into being in 2016 through a narrow vote.

The scheme is now up for renewal as its first five-year term comes to an end.

The BID saw more than 400 businesses pay a levy on their business rates to pay for improvements in the town centre to help boost trade.

But Gary Pemberthy, spokesperson for the Aberystwyth Businesses Opposed to a BID group, said that some businesses complained that they had not received their ballots.

Due to the pandemic, local businesses that are closed could request that the ballots were sent to an alternative address. For national businesses, the ballot is sent to the head office.

Mr Pemberthy said confusion over the sending out of the ballots were causing “huge concerns on the validity of the vote” which ends at the end of this month.

In correspondence with Ceredigion council, which is running the ballot and collects levies for the BID in Aberystwyth, Mr Pemberthy said that a “list of alternative addresses” had not been sent to the right department.

In the correspondence, seen by the Cambrian News, the council’s Russell Hughes-Pickering said there is “a process in place for people to let us know if someone hasn’t received a ballot paper”.

“If the ballot hasn’t been received, then our Electoral Services team should be informed, and arrangements can be made to send a duplicate ballot paper,” he said.

He added that the council was “confident” that all eligible businesses would receive ballots and that “this ballot will be a fair opportunity” for all eligible business owners “to participate and give their view as to whether or not they wish a BID to continue to operate”.

The BID went ahead five years ago with 97 premises owners voting in favour, and 84 against.

The vote will need a simple majority of business, plus a majority of total rateable value is also required.

The ballot opened on Thursday, 4 March and businesses will have until 5pm on Wednesday, 31 March, to return completed ballot papers.

The result of the ballot will be declared on Thursday, 1 April.

Chairman of Advancing Aberystwyth Mark Joseph said that as of the end of last week, Electoral Services had only received two complaints of missing ballots.

“Both had, correctly, been sent to their head offices rather than local outlets,” he added. “We are not aware of any other missing papers.”