WITH more than 400 signatures on a petition aimed at overturning the Hexham Business Improvement District, objectors took to the streets in some eye-catching guises to continue their campaign.

Brewis Gair, who runs Eastwood Engineering on the Tyne Mills Industrial Estate, staged a kerbside protest dressed as Donald Trump to greet traffic travelling into town on Friday morning.

And on Saturday, over 30 business owners, determined to have their voices heard, campaigned with placards in the town centre, while guest house owner Margaret Hall donned a costume and face paint to catch the attention of passers by.

“We keep being told about this prize of £1m being ploughed into the area,” said one of the lead BID objectors, Paul Robbie. “But that money is coming from our pockets in the form of a compulsory levy.”

The BID became operational in October after a ballot of traders, some of whom remain unhappy.

“I was advised that I was ineligible to vote and others claim the same and a great many more either knew nothing about it or didn’t have enough information to make a judgement,” said Paul Clark, partner in Humble and Clark Legal Services, based at Bridge End.

“Had businesses appreciated that the BID was to be funded from a levy on those businesses, would they have turned out to vote and would that vote be diametrically different? I think it would.”

A spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: “The Secretary of State heard an appeal against the project in 2016 and ruled that the BID had no case to answer. This confirmed the county council’s view that the BID was established properly in line with all legislative requirements.”