A NEW manager is being sought for Durham’s Business Improvement District (Bid).

Sonali Craddock led the Bid from March last year, shortly after it was set up.

Last month, Bid director Melanie Sensicle would say only Ms Craddock was “not at work at the moment”; but an advertisement has now been posted for a successor.

The job brings a salary of up to £40,000 a year, including a £5,000 performance bonus, and the deadline for applications is Friday, July 4.

The Bid was set up to boost business in the city centre.

Its board recently appointed a new chairman, former Lindisfarne Gospels director Keith Bartlett, to succeed Prince Bishops shopping centre manager Richard Toynbee, who had led the campaign to establish the initiative.

Businesses in the Bid area are charged 1.5 per cent of their rateable value, with the money raised – approximately £1.6m over five years – spent on schemes to bring more people into the city and put more cash in the tills.