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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWHAT IS A BUSINESS\nIMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (BID) AND HOW DOES IT WORK?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After defining the town centre all businesses are charged a small levy on top of their business rates that is pooled into a town centre fund. However, this money doesn\u2019t go to the council! Those same businesses decide how that money is spent to improve the town, thereby giving them control over its future. Examples of projects other BID towns have done include promoting the town and its businesses \u2013 perhaps we could have a \u2018Visit Biggleswade\u2019 website? One area that Biggleswade is likely to want to consider is improving security by purchasing walkie talkies and maybe employing a town centre security guard. \u00a0Other benefits for businesses could include a reduction in commercial waste removal charges as they agree can contracts as a consortium. They can even decide to spend some of the money on Christmas events to bring people into the town. If you want to know more about how BID works take a look at the recent Hitchin renewal document here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n SHOULDN\u2019T\nTHE COUNCIL BE PAYING FOR THIS ANYWAY?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The council does\nalready pay for some things that could fall under the BID but the decisions are\nmade by council committees often without the years of experience that exist\nwithin our town centre business owners. Once a BID has been set up and agreed\nby local businesses the councils can devolve responsibility for some, or all,\nof the town centre management alongside the budget and so this adds value to\nthe BID. I have no doubt this would meet with some resistance but it is clear\nto me that we need to explore new ideas and ways of moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n WHAT CAN I\nDO?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I\u2019m\nelected I pledge to work with town centre businesses to develop a BID proposal.\nI will work with business owners to make our town centre a safe, welcoming and vibrant\nplace that people want to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given there is an\nelection on 2nd May, the following details are known as an election ‘imprint’\nand are added to ensure people realise I am a candidate and all is transparent: Even with its amazing potential, some lovely historical buildings and very friendly people our town centre is in decline. The sudden closure of the Stratton House Hotel, a cornerstone of the town, came as a shock to many and yet there are so many other businesses on the brink. Talking to business owners the retail park and vastly reduced footfall in the town (attributed to the parking charges) are often cited as reasons that are contributing to the problem. I have been talking to local businesses about these issues and how we might address them. The rise in internet shopping has seen the decline in high streets everywhere but some continue to thrive and grow \u2013 what can we learn from them? One nearby example is Hitchin, where they have taken the approach of creating a Business Improvement District (BID) to support their town centre. Along with ~300 other town centres across the country BID is used to give business owners a say in how the town centre should be run. I have been in touch with the Hitchin Town Centre Manager to find out more about how it might work in Biggleswade. WHAT IS A BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (BID) AND HOW DOES IT WORK? After defining the town centre all businesses are charged a small levy on top of their business rates that is pooled into a town centre fund. However, this money doesn\u2019t go to the council! Those same businesses decide how that money is spent to improve the town, thereby giving them control over its future. Examples of projects other BID towns have done include promoting the town and its businesses \u2013 perhaps we could have a \u2018Visit Biggleswade\u2019 website? One area that Biggleswade is likely to want to consider is improving security by purchasing walkie talkies and maybe employing a town centre security guard. \u00a0Other benefits for businesses could include a reduction in commercial waste removal charges as they agree can contracts as a consortium. They can even decide to spend some of the money on Christmas events to bring people into the town. If you want to know more about how BID works take a look at the recent Hitchin renewal document here. SHOULDN\u2019T THE COUNCIL BE PAYING FOR THIS ANYWAY? The council does already pay for some things that could fall under the BID but the decisions are made by council committees often without the years of experience that exist within our town centre business owners. Once a BID has been set up and agreed by local businesses the councils can devolve responsibility for some, or all, of the town centre management alongside the budget and so this adds value to the BID. I have no doubt this would meet with some resistance but it is clear to me that we need to explore new ideas and ways of moving forward. WHAT CAN I DO? If I\u2019m elected I pledge to work with town centre businesses to develop a BID proposal. I will work with business owners to make our town centre a safe, welcoming and vibrant place that people want to visit. Given there is an election on 2nd May, the following details are known as an election ‘imprint’ and are added to ensure people realise I am a candidate and all is transparent: Promoted by Hayley Whitaker, 3 Sutton Road, Eyeworth, SG19 2TP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPromoted by Hayley Whitaker, 3 Sutton Road, Eyeworth, SG19\n2TP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"