Published: Thursday, 13th August, 2009 6:10pm

Town to get £400,000 of festive lights

by Alan Bunce

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THE streets are looking cleaner, the flowers more colourful and the music is beginning, but the message from the man driving Reading's Business Improvement District is 'just wait until Christmas'.

The BID, Reading's second term in which town centre businesses pay extra rates to get specific improvements, has just spent £400,000 on Christmas lights that BID manager Guy Douglas says will be unlike anything in the south east.

He said: "It's going to look rather nice. It's quite unique. The Reading design is unlike anything in the Thames Valley or the south east. It recognises that Christmas is the largest retail event of the year and we wanted to make sure Reading stood out."

The lights are part of the BID's three themes for the town centre: more attractive, more secure, more customers. Businesses voted for the BID in February. It started in April.

So far a new contractor, Aquaforce, has given the first six-monthly power wash to 27,500sq metres of roads and pavements including tarmac surfaces, and a service has been set up where businesses' waste cardboard is collected at The Oracle. Services are being looked into for anaerobic digestion (destroying foodwaste in an eco-friendly way), and a mixed recycling scheme.

Additional floral displays including planters and hanging baskets are on display and efforts are ongoing to close loopholes which allow street traders to operate without proper licences.

The BID continues part-funding four extra PCSOs and there are efforts to set up a retail equivalent to Pubwatch called Shopwatch. CCTV has been adjusted to get into areas which were previously 'blind spots'.

There will be celebrations of fashion, music and food and a 'Reading food heroes' event is likely to be held next year.

A series of early evening live music events has begun with events at Forbury Gardens and the Oracle Beach.

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