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Bedford Borough Council confirms it will vote against BedfordBID renewal

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Love Bedford is the marketing brand of BedfordBID Ltd

Bedford Borough Council has confirmed it will vote against the renewal of BedfordBID in October after saying it was unhappy with their proposal for a fifth term.

A Business Improvement District (BID) is an arrangement where local businesses pay a levy and are supposed to have a say on how that money is spent so it improves their own trading environment by “identifying projects or services that will add value”.

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They must ballot businesses every five years to see if they can continue for a further term. In October, BedfordBID will ask local businesses if they should be renewed for a fifth term.

As a potential BID levy payer, business ratepayer, billing authority, and provider of services within Bedford town centre, the council has considered the role and value of the current BID looking after Bedford’s businesses.

A report ahead of the Council’s Executive meeting on Tuesday (11 September) raised concerns over the way BedfordBID is run and the ideas it has put forward to enhance Bedford Town Centre and encourage people into the town.

Read: A Business Improvement District (BID) is an arrangement

The report, put forward by Cllr Andrea Spice (Conservative, Wixams & Wilstead), the portfolio holder for economic growth, planning and prosperity, highlighted:

  • The [Bedford]BID proposals lack ambition for revitalising the town centre and simply propose to deliver more of the same
  • Concerns that the proposals do not extend far enough in relation to the town’s large number of smaller, independent businesses
  • Concerns about the effectiveness and robustness of BedfordBID’s governance arrangements

But, Cllr Spice was keen to make sure that her views were not suggesting others must follow their direction.

“This is the decision that we are making, or the recommendation that we are making, for the council’s vote,” she said.

The ballot is a secret vote, but as the borough council is a public organisation and so cllr Spice said it was “right to be transparent”.

“I would also like to say that despite any speculation that you may have heard, that is not a report for a campaign for a no vote,” she added.

“We know that there was a low voter turnout last time, and we are actively encouraging through our social media outlets for levy payers to vote, no matter how they want to vote.

“But [they must] use their vote,” she said.

Local campaigner, Tim Edwards, who set up the A Better Bid for Bedford campaign was also at the meeting. He believes, if run properly, a BID can be a benefit for the town and the best option is for the chair and CEO to step aside.

Read: “Time to go,” town centre campaigner says change at the top needed to create a Better BID

He previously told the Bedford Independent he feels the chair, who has been in place for nine years, has been in place too long and it’s time for someone with fresh ideas to take over.

Speaking after the meeting on Tuesday, he reiterated his position.

“I’m here tonight acting on behalf of BetterBID4Bedford, a group of local businesses who support the concept of a BID but believe that the BedfordBID Company has failed in its remit to support our town centre and its businesses.

‘We have tried to put pressure on BedfordBID to make changes in its working practices and personnel to demonstrate that it understands the concerns of our businesses and is capable of changing to better support our town.

“However, these efforts have failed, in fact, for the majority of the time BedfordBID’s leadership have ignored our concerns and questions in favour of their standard ‘head in the sand’ ostrich approach to constructive feedback.”

While the Bedford Independent has reported on the concerns raised about BedfordBID’s management and its business plan for its fifth term, they have not responded to our questions about the criticisms.

They’ve also not responded to questions surrounding over £400,000 of levy payers’ money sitting in its bank account which some have said should have been spent on promoting Bedford Town Centre.

They have, instead, focussed on highlighting the work they do to reduce anti-social behaviour in town and rejected calls they treat levy payers differently to those businesses who are not eligible to vote due to them being under the rateable value threshold.

However, an email sent to the Council’s executive by the CEO of BedfordBID, Christina Rowe, ahead of the meeting this week suggested they may be open to governance changes.

‘After nearly twenty years of delivery for Bedford we recognise that diligence in respect of Governance (sic) and may benefit from a refresh though we cannot imagine that qualifies as a reason to ‘throw the BID out with the bathwater’, she wrote.

She also rejected claims that BedfordBID does not do enough for independent businesses.

‘We also thought you should know that some arguments being made against the BID are groundless and misinformed. We at the BID team are saddened by the suggestion that we neglect ‘smaller, independent businesses’, added Ms Rowe.

However, Mr Edwards says that even in the face of BedfordBID losing support from the council, and potentially damaging their chances of being renewed, they need to do more to restore faith in their ability to serve Bedford businesses.

“This council is legislated as a BID partner and has a vested interest in BID businesses investing in its towns, it is with this in mind that we welcome Cllr Spice’s recommendation for the Council to vote “no”, in the upcoming ballot,” added Mr Edwards.

“We join with cllr Spice in the hope that the decision will help to encourage BedfordBID to better engage with the businesses of the town to sell their vision and strategy.

“The outcome of the ballot is not a foregone conclusion and the BedfordBID company must now redouble its efforts to interact with its business partners if they wish to bring about a further term of Improvement to Bedford.”

Councillor Jim Weir (Conservative, Great Denham), the deputy mayor, asked whether the majority was the most number of votes cast or the total size of the rateable value for the votes cast.

Lee Phanco, the interim monitoring officer, replied, “It’s got to be both, it’s got to be a majority of votes and the majority of rateable value.”

The recommendations for the Executive were,

  • To note the content of the current BedfordBID proposal, and that the BID proposer has confirmed that it will pay ballot costs of ÂŁ2,500
  • To agree to vote against supporting the BedfordBID proposal in respect of each of the council’s eligible rateable hereditaments [properties that are or may be liable to a rate, such as business rates] in the BID area at the time of the vote
  • To delegate authority to the chief officer for planning, infrastructure & economic growth to cast votes on behalf of the Council.
  • To note that, if the BedfordBID ballot results in a renewed BID, the annual BID levies in the region of ÂŁ39,000 will be payable by the council, based on the current number of assessments and rateable values.
  • And to agree that the council, as billing authority, will charge to the BID Revenue Account the cost of collecting the BID levy at an initial estimated cost of ÂŁ15,000 per year, which will be reviewed annually.

The Executive agreed to the recommendations.

Additional reporting by
John Guinn, Local Democracy Reporter

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