Cab 19 Nov 2015 Item 08 Loughborough Business Improvement District - Second Term

Part B
Background information on BIDs
1. BIDs are business led partnerships which are created following a ballot of
businesses in the BID area in order to deliver additional services to local
businesses usually over a five year period. They can be a powerful tool for
bringing the business community and local authorities to work together to
improve the local trading environment.
2. BID is a defined area in which a levy is charged on all non – domestic
ratepayers in addition to the non – domestic rates bill. A BID can only be
established and a levy charged following approval of a proposals setting out
what the BID will deliver, via a ballot of the businesses liable to pay the levy.
The levy is used to deliver a business plan developed to benefit the
businesses in the local area. The business plan should include services that
are additional or improvements to the services provided by the local authority.
3. There are now over 200 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) operating
across the UK. The majority are town centre BIDs and in 2014 the combined
levy income from BIDs was £65,500,000 with BIDs securing further income of
£130,300,000. The Government is supportive of BIDs and wants to see more
created to help deliver improvements and give businesses a stronger voice in
shaping their local area.
Loughborough BID
4. The Loughborough BID Company Ltd was established in February 2012 after
holding a ballot in 2011. The BID has been successful in bringing partners
together to assist with the economic regeneration in Loughborough and
improving the prospects of the Town Centre. Over £1million has been
invested so far. The annual levy raises a total of £240,000 each year to spend
on business led projects. The Love Loughborough Partnership and BID
management also secured £100,000 of extra funding from the Government as
a Porta’s Pilot town and extra funding from the County Council’s Local
Sustainable Transport Fund. In the first three years of the first term of the BID
it has been successful in:
Creatiing the Love Loughborough brand which has been embraced by the
public - Promoting businesses to 11,000 loyalty card holders supported by
the Love Loughborough website which gets over 8,000 visits each month.
Love Loughborough social media pages (Twitter and Facebook) can
reach up to 10,000 people each week.
Expanding recycling and reducing waste – 200 businesses receive free
recycling.
Improving the attractiveness of Loughborough by supporting initiatives
such as BLOOM with over 192 extra baskets and Christmas lights with an
additional 700 metres of extra lights.
Delivering marketing campaigns including distribution of town centre
marketing material to 65,000 households for campaigns such as ‘Get into
Loughborough’ and the Christmas programme delivered by Charnwood
Borough Council.
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