Weymouth becomes a Town Team Partner

Weymouth BID joins local government Town Team Partnership

Weymouth town centre

On 23 October 2012, the Department of Communities and Local Government announced that Weymouth was one of 326 successful applications from across the country to become a Town Team Partner as part of the wider national campaign to revitalise our town centres.

The Partner programme includes a special support package from the Association of Town Centre Management aimed at promoting best practices and shared learning from retail experts and town teams across the country.

Town Team Partners will also receive a grant of £10,000 to help develop a 5-year strategy supported by a small number of pilot projects to bring life, culture and growth back to our town centre.

The strategy will be based on close consultation with local residents and business communities to secure their involvement and develop a range of ideas to achieve quick wins and early successes. There are many innovative ideas being developed in town centres throughout the country, such as the concept of clusters for specialist retail activity, a focus for street art and busking, night markets and community gardens. This shared learning from other towns will all be part of the consultation process.

Weymouth has a unique location, a vibrant events’ programme and strong partnership networks which will allow it to use this seed funding to help build a real momentum for the wider regeneration of the town centre in future years.

Nigel Reed, Chairman of Weymouth BID, said: "This funding provides a great opportunity to link the Weymouth BID and its work with other partners who can contribute in making Weymouth Town a successful and vibrant place. The experience on offer to Weymouth from tried and tested projects elsewhere will be an invaluable benefit."

Businesses are encouraged to register their interest in the Weymouth BID with Nigel Reed on 07557 142906. More information is available at www.weymouthbid.co.uk.

Photo © Andrew Knowles.

Taking on a business partner - issues to consider

If your business is growing, you will probably need to take on additional manpower. 

If you are a cash rich business with a strong cash flow position, you can buy the skills you need through taking on an employee or using a self-employed contractor or consultant, without giving away any equity in your business. 

However, there may be circumstance which make taking on a partner an attractive proposition. Here are some pros and cons of taking on a partner for you to consider before committing to a partnership agreement.

The advantages of taking on a partner

1. Creativity. The old adage holds true: two heads are better than one. Taking on a partner can increase creativity.
2. Complementary skills and abilities. If you take on a partner with different areas of expertise from yourself, this will strengthen the business.
3. Sharing the load. Bringing on a partner will mean sharing the heavy workload of the sole trader and sharing the risk associated with running your own business.
4. Motivation. A partner will be motivated to work for the business more than an employee or contractor as they jointly own it.
5. Capital input. A new partner will typically buy into a business, bringing an influx of capital which can be used to finance growth.

The disadvantages of taking on a partner

1. Equity split. A partner will be taking a share of the profits. This has to be weighed against the additional benefits that they will bring to the business.
2. Liability. In a standard partnership arrangement, the partners are jointly and severally liable, meaning that they are jointly responsible for the debts of the business, whoever incurred them.
3. Control. Taking on a partner necessarily means some loss of control as you become jointly responsible for decision-making. If these responsibilities are not spelled out at the start, then this is likely to be a source of conflict.
4. Disagreements. You may find that your partner has different long-term goals or different working patterns or that you have disagreements about the way things should be done. These are issues which need to be discussed before entering into a partnership arrangement.
5. Irreconcilable differences. At some point, one or both of you may want to dissolve the partnership. If you have not agreed on an exit strategy, this could lead to the collapse of the business.
6. Partnership tax return. A partnership has an additional level of reporting responsibility. A new partnership must be registered with HMRC immediately and in addition to each partner’s individual tax return, one of the partners must complete the partnership tax return stating the profits of the partnership and each partner’s share.