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NEWS STORY
BUSINESS LEVY MUST DELIVER VALUE
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| March 30, 2009 |
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SRC PUBLISHES CHECKLIST FOR BID COMPANIES AND RETAILERS
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) is publishing a checklist to help proposers develop Business Improvement District (BID) plans which meet retailers' needs.
A BID is a local partnership within a precisely defined area where businesses pay extra money on top of their local business rates to fund additional services to improve their local trading environment.
Publishing a ‘Criteria for BIDs Support' today (Monday), the SRC is outlining criteria for companies and individuals developing BID proposals to maximise their prospects of securing local business support by ensuring they deliver the intended additional services.
The key priorities to meet are:
- A reasonable levy of between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent, taking into account the nature of the BID and variations in the rateable value.
- Clear demonstration that all services provided by the BID are additional to the statutory and accustomed local authority provision.
- Tangible benefits, such as increased footfall or sales growth, to be delivered over a set time period.
The SRC is warning retailers are unlikely to support Business Improvement District (BID) proposals that burden them with unreasonably high levies while simultaneously failing to deliver additional services to those provided by local authorities.
To ensure SRC members are fully aware of all BIDs in development, prospective proposals should be registered on the information exchange page at www.britishbids.info. The registration process is supported by Business Improvement Districts Scotland.
Fiona Moriarty, Scottish Retail Consortium Director, said: "When BIDs are developed and implemented effectively they make a valuable contribution to improving the local trading environment and benefit the wider local community. But weak BID proposals will simply be an extra burden on retailers already dealing with a tough trading environment.
"The ‘Criteria for BIDs Support' is an essential checklist for BID companies of what they must deliver and for retailers of what tangible benefits they should expect for the extra money they are paying."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- BIDs were first introduced in Scotland in 2008 and there are currently six across the country with more being planned.
- Examples of the services a BID could offer retailers are likely to include an emphasis on cleanliness and safety by, for example, improving street cleaning or introducing highly visible "wardens" onto the main street to deter crime and reassure shoppers.
- Every business that would be required to pay the levy will be able to vote for or against the BID. For the vote to succeed a BID must win a majority of votes cast, both by number and also by rateable value. This is intended to balance the interests of small and large ratepayers.
- Further information about the work of BIDS Scotland can be found at:  www.bids-scotland.com
- British bids is a membership organisation for existing and developing bids as well as companies with an interest in bids.
The ‘Criteria for BIDs Support' is available to journalists from the press office and can also be found at www.brc.org.uk/scottishbids.
Media Contacts:
Scottish Retail Consortium Director, Fiona Moriarty
07803 152 423
Press Officer, Krishan Rama
020 7854 8920 / 07793 874511
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