BID Information

Business Improvement Districts (BID) were introduced in the UK as a consequence of legislation created in 2004. Statutory Instrument 2443 in 2004 was entitled “The Business Improvement District (England) Regulations 2004” and this outlined the concept of a BID and what procedures had to be followed in order to introduce one into a location.

The first BID was in Toronto in 1970 and in 1974 the first in America was created in New Orleans and in the USA there are now over 1200. In the UK there are now over 100, with two in Suffolk, one in Ipswich and one in Bury.

In order for a BID to be introduced there is a requirement of a ballot whereby all businesses above a stated rateable value and within a geographical area are invited to vote on whether a BID should be introduced. The legislation states that for a  BID to be introduced there needs to be a majority of all who vote, in favour of the proposal and of all who do vote the total rateable value of all these businesses is calculated and again there needs to be a majority of the total rateable value in favour of BID.

During 2009 the existing Town Centre Management orgnaisation investigated the opportunity of a BID being developed in Bury and produced a Business Plan in accordance with the legislation.

A decision was made to set the rateable value level, at which a business automatically becomes a member, at £10,000 and that for all eligible businesses the BID levy would be set at 1.75% of the total rateable value per annum. A decision was also made to identify the geographical area where the BID would cover and the area is what most people would consider to be the town centre. This starts at Angel Hill and extends to the Cinema Complex and B&Q off of Parkway and from Churchgate Street across to St Johns Street. To see a map of the BID4Bury area please click here.

In November 2009, voting forms were sent to eligible businesses and there was a 28 day period where the vote could be cast by post. The Borough Council oversaw these procedures and their returning office declared the result on 1st December 2009.

The result was that 70 businesses voted in favour of a BID and 48 against. Therefore 59.3% had voted in favour. In regards of the rateable value £4,589,700voted in favour and £2,206,750 voted against. This meant that 67.5% of the total rateable value that had voted had done so in favour of a BID. As both statutory criteria had been achieved the decision was that a BID would be introduced in Bury St Edmunds.

Bid4Bury went live on April 1st 2010 and has a five year life. In the autumn of 2014 all eligible businesses will be given the opportunity to participate in a ballot to decide whether Bid4Bury is given a second term of five years.

During the first year Steve Peters the previous Town Centre Manager led the Bid4Bury activities but in November he left his position and was replaced by Mark Cordell who took up the post of Chief Executive on 7th February 2011.

The actual number of member businesses within Bid4Bury varies throughout the year but on average it equates to 360 separate businesses which generate a levy income of approximately £300k. The actual amount collected varies slightly each year.

The Bid4Bury business plan identified six key priority areas and these were Marketing, Safety and Security, Christmas Lights, Environment, Events and Business Support. Outlined below is a brief summary of all the activity that has been delivered by Bid4Bury up to the end of 2011 within these categories.

Marketing
This was the number one priority when members were consulted prior to the BID ballot and specifically for the marketing strategy to have a town centre business perspective.  In late October 2011 the ourburystedmunds brand was launched and at the same time this website was launched. All BID members have a listing on the website and have the ability to promote their businesses via this site. Additionally Cubiqdesign, who are the creative design company that Bid4Bury selected to lead on this issue, provide a twitter facility whereby the business of our members can be promoted via twitter. At the same time new maps and retail and professional services guides were produced and have been circulated both in Bury and beyond. Prior to Christmas 2011 an ipod/ipad and smart phone app was released to further enhance the ability of our businesses to promote themselves by using the full gamut of brochures, website, social media and apps. We are unaware of any other town in the UK who has an app that focuses upon businesses within a specific geographical area. All of these facilities are there for our businesses to utilise to promote their companies to those who are signed up as members of the website or who are our twitter followers. Throughout 2011 there has been regular coverage of Bid4Bury and its members in the local newspapers and on Radio Suffolk and RWSfm. During December there was also coverage of the app and Christmas late night shopping on About Anglia and Look East TV programmes respectively

Safety and Security
During November 2010 three Street Rangers were appointed for Bury but were employed by Ipswich Central who provides a Street Ranger service for Bury. Unfortunately for the first few months there were teething problems with the scheme but since April 2011 the current team of Alex, Andie and Fay have been in place. Their role is to liaise with B4B businesses the Police, existing security staff and SEBC employees in the town centre to ensure that as an overall “town centre team” these individuals worked together in a co-ordinated way to do all they can to ensure the safety and security of those who visit the town. Bid4Bury businesses are offered the opportunity to have a “Shop Safe” digital radio at a reduced cost and a rejuvenated town centre exclusion scheme for persistent offenders is currently being developed.

Christmas Lights
Bid4Bury own all the Christmas Lights that were previously the responsibility of the Town Centre Management Company and Bury Town Council. Apart from the Arc, where the lights are provided by the Management Company, Bid4Bury is the only other organisation that is responsible for the Christmas Lights in the town centre. In 2011 a decision was made to increase the number of lights in the town to ensure a greater coverage across the Bid4Bury area and new lights were purchased for Churchgate, Guildhall, Hatter and Whiting Streets. Kings Road also had lights for the first time in recent memory and the existing lights in Risbygate Street were upgraded. For 2012 it is intended to purchase further lights to once more extend the coverage of the lights across the BID area but thereafter there will be a need to introduce a graduated replacement/refurbishment programme of the existing stock

Environment
Within the original Bid4Bury business plan there was a proposal to appoint an Environmental Warden to ensure that the town centre always visually looks tidy, attractive and inviting. Subsequently a decision was made not to appoint a specific individual to this role but to incorporate it into the day to day work of the Street rangers. They have been trained to remove graffiti from buildings and street furniture and are usually able to do this more promptly than Local Authority staff. Additionally they report to the appropriate authorities whenever there is a detrimental environmental issue in the town to enable this to be promptly rectified. During 2011 Bid4Bury has worked closely with the Waste Management Team at the Borough Council and has provided limited funding to partnership projects such as the provision of some additional litter bins, new cigarette butt disposal units and also disposal units for chewing gum that can be so costly to be removed if dropped on the pavement.
Additionally during 2011 Bid4Bury has funded extra floral displays in the BID area to further enhance the appearance of the town centre. This is in partnership with Bury in Bloom and is in addition to the contribution made by the Town Council. The commitment for these displays is for a further two years and in 2012 a small amount of additional expenditure has been identified to provide further additional floral displays

Events
Bid4Bury see the promotion of events in the town centre as a key way of attracting additional visitors into the town both at these specific events but also as return visitors in the future once they have seen what the town centre has to offer.
During 2011 Bid4Bury arranged two large events, one was the Whitsun Fayre in late May and the other was the Christmas Light Switch on Event in mid November. Both of these events were very successful and were well attended and these two events will become fixtures in our event Calendar. Bid4Bury is currently researching what other events could be delivered to the benefit of the town, residents, visitors and our businesses. As well as arranging our own events we are very keen to work with other organisations to deliver further events whether they are new or enhanced existing events. In 2011 examples of this were the St Johns Street Fayre in June and the Churchgate Showcase and Motorsport Show both of which occurred in July. We were able to assist the organisers of these events in regards of road closures applications and costs as well as promoting the events which all went well
In 2011 additional entertainment has been put in place for the four Thursdays in December for the late night shopping evenings to encourage a greater attendance into the town centre on these evenings than has previously been the case. The extremely successful Christmas Fayre, organised by the Borough Council at the end of November, is another event where we work with the organisers and have lobbied the Council to continue with this event as it is such a positive reflection upon the town and generates additional income for our members

Business Support
During the first year of Bid4Bury very little was delivered in regard of this category but things have greatly improved during 2011.  Two networking lunches have been provided with members with a guest speaker talking about a specific relevant subject. The subjects covered so far have been customer service and social media. Bid4Bury has links with MENTA and the Suffolk Chamber of Service and intends to work closer with each of these organisations during 2012 to ensure that training, advice, support and guidance required by our members is available to them at reasonable costs. West Suffolk College have also provided training inputs which have been available to our members. Additionally Bid4Bury has been able to offer members the opportunity to review their utility and telephone/on line costs and to change providers where appropriate, at no cost to them. We have also facilitated reduced fees for joining the Federation of Small Businesses
In 2012 it is intended to be a partner in the autumn Business Festival for the town and to deliver more business benefits for our members within the Professional Services Sector.