Leading the BID industry
Leading the BID industry
The last month has been busy for BIDs, with thirteen ballots. Kirkwall, Astmoor, Halebank, and Manor Royal, along with Northbank, Streatham, Coventry and King's Heath were all successful renewals. At the same time five new were delivered successfully in Oswestry, Chelmsford, Penge, Beckenham, and Wood Green respectively.
As you may know the National BIDs Advisory Board (NBAB) brings together the key players in the BID industry: British BIDs, ATCM and the IPM come together with a group of national levy payers, a local authority, and a range of BIDs from across the country. We meet every quarter, with our next meeting on July 5 in Manchester. If you have an interest in joining the Board do please let me know. Our last meeting on March 1 was snowed off but one key agenda was the discussion on the latest Tranche 10 of the BID loan fund. A small virtual subgroup of the Advisory Board was setup to comment on the seven loan fund applications that were received, and that advice is being collated by Bb and passed on the the MHCLG.
Many of you will have read the review by Bill Grimsey on the vanishing high street five years ago and been impressed with the analysis and messages that came from it. Bill has gathered a group together again, to see how things have changed. Bb is pleased to have been asked to provide key BID data using the data sets we have built up from the National BID Survey over the last few years. We have also been asked to identify a cross-section of case studies where BIDs have made a difference. We are planning to start with those BIDs who have been shortlisted for the National awards over the past two years, and if there are BIDs who feel that they have made a particular impact on their high street's then can they please email me as soon as possible so they can be included in the project.
The 12th National BID survey 2018 will be starting on April 1st. We now have nearly 300 BIDs in the British Isles and this annual Bb survey is becoming increasingly important. It allows a snapshot to be taken for policy makers, both local and national; it allows BIDs and their Boards to benchmark themselves and identify key performance indicators; it allows national and local levy payers to see if they are getting all the services that they should, and finally it allows new and developing BIDs to design their services and operations in the most effective fashion. It is for these reasons that we hope that every BID is able to participate, so that the fullest possible picture is reflected in the final report. The survey is the industry's only detailed data collection, carried out annually on behalf of all of us and it is pleasing that it is now used by so many people.
We have already spoken of the new National Business Crime Centre, and they had their first large conference, on Violence and Businesses last week. This is a major new initiative by the Police at a national level and they are working on new National Standards for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships, with colleagues in Secured by Design. This should allow high quality certification but we will need to operationalise the standards appropriately; this will have an impact on those BIDs that currently have Business Crime Reduction Partnerships. If you are a BID who wants to get more involved in this can you please let me know by email and we will gather a group together.
Bb has for the past two years been involved in the London Sustainable City Awards, and last year one of the winners was part of the New West End Bird Street project. This year there are two weeks to enter the Sustainable Awards 2018 and if you want to see the impact of the awards do please look here.
A final reminder of our Professional Development Day in Bristol April 19th. The day will integrate an operational visit to an exciting City centre with two BIDs, a series of presentations packed with tips and advice, and a tour of the city to see how theory and practice can come together. We also plan to launch our updated Guiding Principles of a Well Managed BID. We hope you enjoyed our two latest Policy Guidelines #7 and #8 on the BID Body and Company Articles.
