ANDOVER Business Improvement Districts (BID) is working on creating maps to distribute among the community for the benefit of business owners and residents.

The BID believes a thriving high street attracts more visitors and it will encourage more businesses to start up, and thus contributing to the prosperity of the area.

The distribution of the maps, showcasing key locations within the town, will start within three months.

A grant application for £509.70 submitted by Andover BID for the project was approved by Andover Town Council on Wednesday, March 20.

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Cllr Katherine Bird, who proposed the application be approved, said it’s great for BID to do something different.

“When you put all these shops in one document you can see that there are quite a lot in town,” Cllr Bird said.

“We need to make people realise where things are. Now people park at Chantry Centre, do shopping there and just leave. They might not know what’s literally just over the other side of the high street.”

The plan is to distribute maps through businesses and have a couple of “blown-up versions” to be placed in and around empty business windows or on digital screens.

The BID will engage a professional graphic designer to create an aesthetically pleasing and informative map and the maps produced by Z-card used in Newbury as a template.

There will also be online versions of the maps available which will be updated regularly.

Andover Town Council and Test Valley Borough Council would be crucial partners in the initiative.

The plan is to secure 30 per cent of the total cost each from Andover Town Council and Test Valley Borough Council (£509.70 each). The BID will cover the remaining 40 per cent (£679.60).

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While debating on granting the fund, Cllr Stu Waue said the maps have to be distributed through other means as well.

“If you want to increase footfall, you need to increase it significantly and distribute it not to people who have bothered to come to town,” he said.

The town clerk informed that the maps will also be distributed via Post Offices outside the town centre.