Work is to begin on assessing the appetite and need for the establishment of a Business Improvement District (BID) in Newtown.
Newtown-based company Revive & Thrive has been awarded the contract to deliver a BID in Newtown.
The company will work with local businesses to assess the feasibility of establishing a Business Improvement District in the town.
It has also won the contract to assess a BID for Brecon in south Powys.
A BID is where local businesses pay a levy to develop projects that will benefit businesses in a BID area.
The UK government defines a BID as: "A powerful tool for directly involving local businesses in local activities and allow the business community and local authorities to work together to improve the local trading environment.
"A Business Improvement District is a defined area in which a levy is charged on all business ratepayers in addition to the business rates bill. This levy is used to develop projects which will benefit businesses in the local area.
"There is no limit on what projects or services can be provided through a Business Improvement District. The only requirement is that it should be something that is in addition to services provided by local authorities. Improvements may include, but are not limited to, extra safety/security, cleansing and environmental measures."
A Revive & Thrive statement said: "The Revive & Thrive team are really looking forward to working with businesses in Newtown and Brecon over the coming months as they assess the feasibility of BIDs in the towns and then hopefully taking them through to ballot next autumn."
Stuart Owen, Chairman of the Newtown BID Steering Group, congratulated Revive & Thrive for successfully securing the tender, saying that he and others look forward to working with the Revive & Thrive project team over the next 12 months.
Matt Powell, Revive & Thrive Director and project lead for these two BID developments, said" "Over the last five years Revive & Thrive has developed and worked with BIDs across England and Wales but we are thrilled to be working on two new BID projects in our business’s home county.
"Newtown and Brecon will both benefit over the next year and beyond from the team’s experience of working nationwide and of the promotion that they will receive via our magazine, social media reach and our regional and national events.”
The first part of the BID process will be a feasibility study which will begin imminently and Revive & Thrive will be visiting businesses in both areas to discuss the BID and how it can help them both individually and as part of the community that they trade in.