TRADERS and businesses in Winchester are being urged to play their part in making it a better place to live, work and shop.

Members are being sought to join a range of committees being put together by the city’s Business Improvement District (BID).

They include three sub-groups that will discuss the issues of crime reduction, marketing and events, and improving the street scene.

Their work will be co-ordinated by another committee, which is also looking for new members, and is chaired by Graham Compton- Price, from Jones the Bootmaker, in The Square.

He will be joined on the committee by BID officers and the three people who are chosen to lead the sub-groups.

Crime reduction committee members will liaise with Hampshire police and seek to make Winchester safer through such schemes as Pubwatch and Shopwatch.

Those on the street scene committee will focus on cleanliness, floral displays, and other ways to make the city more attractive, and the marketing and events group will discuss ways to draw more shoppers into Winchester.

Applications are invited from all firms in the BID catchment areas, which number around 800 between the railway station and Chesil Street.

Applicants should write to the BID outlining their experience and suitability for the committee they wish to join, at: BID Committee Applications, Winchester BID, 10 Parchment Street, Winchester, SO23 8AT. For more details, e-mail enquiries@winchesterbid.co.uk, or call 01962 841000.