This winter Cheltenham will be a much brighter place to visit, thanks to new plans to light up the streets by the town's BID team.

Brand new Christmas lights will be switched on later this month and there are also plans to light up landmark buildings across the town during the long, dark winter months.

Other new initiatives next year include a Beauty Week, food and drink tours and an awards ceremony to reward businesses and their staff for the great job they do for the town.

An annual review has marked the Business Improvement District's (BID) achievements during its first year, as well as looking ahead at what is to come over the next 12 months.

BID director Kevan Blackadder (pictured right) said they were pleased to have been able to work so well with so many businesses in what had been a successful first year.

"Without their support we wouldn't have been able to have launched so many projects," he said. "We are lucky to do business in such a wonderful town and are determined to attract many more visitors, more often."

Among the successful ventures was an arrangement with Stagecoach to provide discounted bus travel for staff of town companies, a scheme to cut utility bills for businesses that enabled them to save thousands of pounds as a result, and several fun events, including a cocktail week, independent boutique sale and chilli fiesta.

"We were careful in our first year not to rush into projects that wouldn't help directly achieve our two main goals - to ensure our businesses flourish and visitor numbers increase.

"The ones we ran were very much the starting points to the sort of events we want to add to the mix in Cheltenham, and we are now aiming to make an even bigger difference in our second year."

Plans are well in hand to light up the town in a more impressive way than ever before on November 25, when the all-new Christmas lights are switched on. This will include a large new feature at Boots Corner, specifically designed for the town.

Yet even when the festive season ends, the BID is determined not to let it slip back into darkness again with plans to illuminate some of Cheltenham's major landmark buildings in a scheme called Light Up Winter.

"We're looking to do that in February and early March when everybody's fed up with the winter and there's not much else on," said Kevan. "If we can get it right, it will be a great way of attracting people into the town centre in late afternoons, early evenings when it's quieter to boost the night-time economy for pubs and restaurants."

Cheltenham Beauty Week is another initiative and one that Kevan believes is unique in the country. Beauty businesses such as hairdressers, salons and shops will work together to inform customers as well as offering discounts for shopping in more than one place.

"We're also planning for speakers from the industry to come and talk about their business and why they came to Cheltenham."

Other proposals include a new trail highlighting hidden histories and treasures in Cheltenham, building on the fantastic floral displays with a competition for businesses and a BID awards ceremony, rewarding businesses and individual staff for the service they provide.

"We are supporting the setting up of Marketing Cheltenham, a new organisation focused on improving the way the town is promoted regionally, nationally and internationally," said Kevan.

"The Cotswold brand is known and people will travel to the Cotswolds but might miss out on Cheltenham altogether and we want to change that so people are making the town their base for visiting the area.

"There is so much to see and do here and there is a long-weekend market that we need to be reaching out to." This will include redeveloping the Visit Cheltenham website, new versions of the map and guide and a series of promotional videos.

Top and lower pictures: www.stillmovingmedia.co.uk