City urged to back the BID

Ten years of success, 15 national awards and a real voice for retail both in Plymouth and the region – Plymouth City Council should continue to back the BID, the city’s Working Plymouth Overview and Scrutiny Panel has heard.

Councillor Mark Lowry, Cabinet member for Finance and city centre champion told the panel the Council should carry on giving financial and in-kind support to the Plymouth City Centre Company which runs the BID.

He said: “Our city centre is hugely important to the city – to the economy and the perception of Plymouth. Over five million visitors come here every year and nearly 40 per cent say shopping is one of their main activities.

“We need an organisation that can devote time and energy to making the city centre a success and work with the businesses to keep shoppers coming in.

“We have that. The City Centre Company has proved time and time again that it has risen to the task – listening to traders, shoppers and helping to keep Plymouth on top, despite really challenging circumstances for the high street.”

A ballot is due to take place in March next year among city centre businesses to see if they wish to renew the Business Improvement District and to endorse the direction the BID will take up until the year 2020, if they vote in favour of continuing.

A Business Improvement District for the Plymouth City Centre is an important element of the Council’s Corporate Plan and a crucial element of the city’s visitor plan and Local Economic Strategy. Businesses in the district pay a levy based on the rate-able value of their business representing an investment of £2,150,000 over five years.

Doug Fletcher, Chairman of the company said: “The BID has been a huge success over the past 10 years. It has meant priority has been given to the city centre in terms of keeping it clean, lively and relevant to today’s shoppers.

“This ballot process has given us a change to step back, look at what’s working, gather the views of the 700 businesses who are part of the district and see how we can move forward together up until 2020. We’ve got really exciting plans to reinvigorate the market, invest in the shopping environment, but we need the backing of both the business and the Council.”

Ahead of the vote extensive consultations have been carried out with key city stakeholders through meetings, surveys and workshops.

This consultation process has seen a strong vision emerging from the business community for:

Re-positioning the City Centre as a major retail shopping destination in the south West and key economic driver.
Re-investment in the City Market as a leading regional shopping hub and key community and visitor destination.
Re-storing and improving the City Centre public realm so it is high quality, clean, welcoming and safe.
Re-invigorating the City Centre through proactively seeking inward investment and driving through development opportunities.

In addition businesses have identified the following priorities and themes:

Clean City Centre – including group buying of waste management services and improved recycling
Safer Centre – including PARC to reduce business crime in the day and night.
Marketing and PR – campaigns to attract more shoppers and visitors to Plymouth.
Events and activities: Reinvigorate Christmas-themed activities and year –round events to enhance the shopping experience.
Advocacy: including effective advocacy at local and national levels on issues important to Plymouth including parking and protection from out-of-town shopping developments.
Reduce business costs: including assessments for business rates and utilities.

The BID area covers the City Centre, but as part of the renewal process the BID could include the British Land Drake Leisure development and this has been identified on the attached plan.

A more detailed report about the level of funding and ‘in kind’ support for 2015 to 2020 will be detailed in the Cabinet report due in December 2014.