There are currently two Directors: Bryan Brown/Paul Holt Mel Inness became Interim Chair of the advisory board of the Abingdon BID Co in September 2017 Please see below a letter from Mel to levy payers which include details of the calling of the BID Audit. Dear Levy Payer During my first six months as interim Chair it has been an extremely busy time for all of us, there has also been a lot to take in. With the opening of the Westgate Centre imminent we had to address the situation with the multi storey car park and we immediately commenced a lengthy, but ultimately successful battle to get the car park open for the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas. At the same time we were also organising the Christmas promotion campaign which aimed to advertise the town as a whole, something none of us have ever tried before. In total nearly 25 000 leaflets and posters were distributed across OX14 postcodes and the surrounding area. Whilst doing all this I was also very conscious that after the meeting in June, it was very clear that for everyone’s benefit we needed better financial clarity. As such we, the current advisory board have been unable to answer questions relating to BID finances, as we were not party to sufficient financial information pre September 2017, a situation I wanted to rectify. I know I personally have spoken to a few of you about this both pre and post Christmas. At that stage I could only ask that you gave me a bit of space to address your concerns properly and that I would do my utmost to get clarity on all the issues which were worrying you. You may be aware that up until now the BID management was entirely in the hands of a serviceproviding company called InPublications. They have provided not only the BID manager, but also all the digital support and print as well as covering all other aspects of the work of the BID and as such they have had full control of all funds. Since taking over as interim Chair in September, I have made repeated requests for clear in-depth financial information to be given for everyone’s benefit, but nothing was forthcoming. We have been slightly limited in what we could do about this given that none of the current advisory board are company directors of Abingdon BID Ltd. Having discussed this several times since Christmas with the current advisory board, I felt that all other options had been exhausted and therefore on 1st February I requested that VOWHDC carry out a full financial audit. In the meantime I have also put a stop to any further funds being passed to InPublications pending the results of the audit. The audit officially began 9th February with the auditor reviewing all the publicly available information, she will in due course be requesting further information from InPublications. On 17th February I received an email from the former Chairman who is still officially a current Abingdon BID Ltd company director, notifying me that InPublications have given us notice for termination of their contract. I’m sure you will appreciate that the current advisory board are unable to comment any further on this matter whilst the audit is still ongoing and the findings have not yet been reported. Please be assured that all of us on the current advisory board are doing our best, in between running our own businesses, to get the Abingdon BID back on track and to put the best interests of the levy payers first and foremost. I would like to thank the current advisory board members who were all involved in making the decision to instruct VOWHDC to carry out the audit, as well as those of you who have stepped forward now, offering to take up places on the board and to do what you can to help. Your support at this time is really appreciated. Yours Sincerely Mel Inness Interim Chairman of the Advisory Board of Abingdon BID
