Businesses are banding together to breathe new life into a Mitcham industrial estate.

Companies in the Willow Lane Industrial Area have voted to designate it a Business Improvement District (BID), a council backed scheme under which they pay an annual levy that is spent improving the area.

The move could soon be repeated across the borough, with business chiefs in Wimbledon looking to adopt a similar scheme in the town centre.

The levy is set to raise £265,000 over the next five years, which will be spent by a representatives from companies based on the estate on improvement projects including more CCTV cameras and better signs.

In a ballot conducted on the estate last month, 100 of the 107 businesses that responded backed the BID. The size of the charge is decided by each company’s rateable value.

Diane Neil Mills, the council’s cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said: "This is a real success story for Merton and particularly Mitcham.

"This industrial area makes an important contribution to Merton's business base and the investment that will be provided through the BID programme will make an important contribution towards improving the industrial estate.

"Although this is Merton's first BID programme, Merton Council is very supportive in principle of the BID programme and would like to expand BIDs, both to other industrial estates and town centres in Merton."

Dave Dadds, chairman of the group that will spend the cash, said: "We are thrilled to have successfully become a BID as it will formalise how we manage and fund the improvements we want to make."

Councillor Stephen Alambritis, leader of the council’s Labour group and chairman of the Small Business Federation, said: “It’s a step forward for the borough, as long as all business are kept fully on board and involved.”

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