Agenda item

That the committee is requested to review the ‘Renewal Business Proposal’ prepared by Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) and to make recommendations to Cabinet regarding the future support for the BID.

The Chairman welcomed Mr Derek Marsh, the Chair of Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) and Ms Helen Marshall, the Vice-chair and Chief Executive Officer of Chichester BID.

Mrs Murphy introduced the report, and explained the purpose of which was for Members to review the Renewal Business Proposal prepared by the BID and make recommendations to Cabinet.  Mrs Murphy explained that BIDs were business led partnerships operating in a defined area, and a levy was charged on all business rate payers to fund BID projects and services. A BID was created via a ballot process, and the ballot was managed by the Council.  A BID could be created for a maximum period of five years.  The first BID for Chichester city was established in April 2012, and second BID in April 2017 and therefore ends in March 2022.  The BID would like to proceed to a third term.

Mrs Murphy drew Members attention to the report which set out some of the BID achievements including flags, Christmas lights, and funding for safety initiatives.  The current BID team were undertaking significant research and consultation which was also detailed within the appendices to the report.  If the BID was not successful in ballot, then any initiatives would require funding potentially by another organisation.  The report also highlighted the proposed areas of focus for next five years if successful, including campaigns, partnership work to improve the public realm and support to BID levy payers and improve footfall.  It was proposed that the ballot was undertaken on 18 November 2021.  The Council was a levy payer so would continue to pay the levy if ballot successful.  The Council also collected the levy on behalf of the BID from the payers and paid this on a monthly basis to the BID.

Mr Marsh explained that he and Ms Marshall were appointed in December 2020.  The BID had been somewhat moribund due to Covid-19 lockdowns and the previous Chair had resigned nine months previously.  Currently preparations for the ballot were well behind schedule and the BID had lost visibility in the City. The BID Operations Manager had taken extended sick leave, the other two staff had resigned and much of the corporate memory had consequently disappeared.  Among other problems, the BID bookkeeper caught long Covid and BID were therefore, without key financial support for some months.

It was immediately clear that a huge effort was required to get back on track. Mr Marsh also explained that it was not always understood that the BID was run by two companies limited by guarantee, was not a quango or an arm of CDC. The BID must follow, among other things, the Companies Acts, comply with General Data Protection Regulations and prepare annual accounts for filing at Companies House, and the Board of Directors must exercise stewardship of the management.

Ms Marshall as CEO, took over the day to day running of the BID business and was making preparations for the ballot. As a non-executive Chair, Mr Marsh explained that he had focused on governance and management. Work was on-going to achieve a successful ballot and Term three for the BID.

Ms Marshall confirmed that they were focusing on a range of new initiatives to support local business.  Whilst the provision of essential BID services like Christmas Lights, Rangers, day-to-day communication with BID levy payers were important and not to be under estimated, the view was that a difference could be made in the following areas:

·         Building stronger and more proactive collaborations/relationships within the city.

BID wished to be far more visible and therefore more influential, taking the role of being the voice of all the businesses represented seriously. As a consequence, the team structure had been realigned to be more outward facing and more visible through the introduction of the Client Relationship manager role. BID wished to be aware of what Chichester needed at a grass roots level to enable quick reaction and foster stronger relationships with the all the city’s businesses, and to represent them confidently when key decisions were being made.

BID wished to work more closely with those partner organisations that directly support business in Chichester.  In the area of Crime prevention, BID wished to provide a broader and more relevant service and propose to evolve the Business Crime Reduction Partnership with ‘Chichester District Business Against Crime Partnership’ (ChiBAC).  To offer improved value for money and include further On Street presence to monitor all aspects of the public realm in both the day and night time economy.

·         More active in driving footfall, and keeping Chichester as a key destination city.

BID wished to put more focus on collaborating to deliver memorable family events, building on what had already been achieved and establish a fixed, rolling events calendar that aligned with other Chichester District events such as Goodwood Revival.

Christmas was considered a missed opportunity in the city and BID wanted to build on the success of the Xmas lights installation and deliver a series of events during the four late nights leading up to Christmas, turning the city into a must-see evening destination over the Christmas period. 

Working closely with Chichester District Council, BID wanted to ensure the markets in Chichester had great variety and draw, and ensure that the local businesses welcomed and supported them, working alongside them productively and viewing them as a positive asset.

·         Support entrepreneurialism and nurture new business in the city.

BID wished to build a resource bank for the businesses which would include key commercial insights including footfall, car park occupancy, visitor origination and demographics to support sales and stock planning.

BID also wished to set up a marketing asset resource bank – including videos, images, and social media tips and hints.  Drawing on the past experience of the BID team and their networks, there are also plans to consider establishing a Business Review support service for those who wished to participate. 

Nurturing and retaining young talent in the city was vital to ensure a vibrant skills succession plan in the city. Chichester BID would work hard with those partners who worked alongside students to create initiatives to bridge the gap between their education and their future careers – thus encouraging the ‘top talent’ to remain in the city and to develop a platform to support a strong young, professional network within the city. 

·         Support the look and feel of the public realm

Alongside solely providing for the Christmas lights, partially funding the Rangers, partially funding the flower displays, solely providing for the bunting and flags, BID consider there was further opportunity to improve the public realm.

The overwhelming feedback from the independent retailers in the city, was that they would like more abundant floral displays.

BID also wished to be more proactive at attracting Inward Investment and work alongside partners to ensure BID can promote Chichester’s profile and facilitate potential investment. BID would seek matched funding opportunities and were currently reviewing BID Best Practice to achieve this aim.

Ms Marshall concluded that to support these initiatives, BID would ensure total transparency in collaborative activities and financial arrangements through joining the nationally regarded British BID’s Accreditation scheme.

Mr Marsh, Ms Marshall and officers responded to Members’ questions and comments:

·         With regards to the benefits to businesses of have a BID, Mr Marsh drew Members’ attention to the list of items that would be lost should a third term of the BID not be secured.  Ms Marshall confirmed on the matter of funding the Rangers, BID matched funded the initiative with Chichester City Council.  Ms Marshall further explained that without BID the business crime initiative would not exist which was much needed by retailers impacted by shop-lifting, and floral and bunting displays would be absent.

·         On the matter of the night-time economy and whether it would return, Ms Marshall responded that it was difficult to predict, but footfall data was tracking what was happening nationally at 27% down on a two year equivalent, with day time economy was around 10% down.  Ms Marshall believed there was opportunity for it to return, and there was the potential for the Southern Gateway area of the city to be designated for the night time economy which was a longer-term consideration.  Mrs Bushby confirmed that the Council worked closely with BID staff and ChiBAC to ensure the city centre once it reopened was a safe place, particularly for younger people and students.  Mrs Hotchkiss added how important the night time economy was, which was illustrated by people spending approximately £60 or more each time they were planning a night out.  

·         On the necessity for late licences for the night time economy and the opportunity to ask students what they would like to have available within the city, Ms Marshall responded that the health and wealth of the city depended upon bring younger people into the city and therefore to understand what attracts them.  The University of Chichester considered that insufficient attractions were provided and there was an issue with the lack of a live music venue.  The role of the BID was to work with partners to ensure young people are involved in business life and demonstrate that there was a credible career path, to retain talent.

·         On the matter of licensing, Mr Foord responded that applications under the Licensing Act 2003 for the sale and supply of alcohol, regulated entertainment and late night refreshment was a presumptive piece of legislation to grant a licence unless one or more of the licensing objectives were not upheld.  Next week the process would begin to readopt the Council’s Statement of Licencing policy under this legislation for the foreseeable future.  There was often considerable opposition to licensing applications, not all were contentious but they received opposition.  If Members wished to have a growing night time economy, Members had an opportunity to positively comment on the policy and support it going forward.  Officers followed the legislative framework, but were regularly facing opposition for new and exciting events and therefore Mr Foord asked Members to support these opportunities.

·         Mrs Murphy explained it was important to focus on what BIDs were in place to deliver and to achieve.  Mrs Murphy also noted that the Chair of Chichester BID was a Member of the Chichester Vision, so that role would also be involved in some of the wider partnership discussions. Historically the BID had led on a couple of the actions within the Action Plan and some projects had been delivered by the BID working in partnership with key organisations.  It was also important that the BID would be working with British BIDS in the coming year to develop the accreditation scheme.

·         On the matter of complaints regarding the noise of students within the residential areas late at night, Mr Marsh responded that the city was increasingly becoming residential with apartments being created from empty shop buildings and the city becoming more residential was not compatible with increasing the night time economy.

·         On the matter of the cost of the BID, Mrs Murphy responded that the Council was a BID levy payer, which was approximately £14k p.a., the Council also undertook the collection of the BID levy on behalf of the BID but there was a management fee which was charged for undertaking that work to cover the software which was used by the Revenues team and some of staff time which was set at a recommended percentage of the overall fee nationally.  The ballot costs were in the region of £3k which was covered by the Council unless the ballot was not successful or there was less that a 20% turnout within the ballot in which case the Council would look to recharge the BID for the cost of the ballot.  There were also on-going costs of officer time, in terms of partnership working on projects.  The BID generated approximately £300k to £350k p.a. with regards to the BID levy payers within the city, who paid 1.25% each year which explained earlier in the debate, the Council collected on the BIDs behalf. 

Mrs Bangert left the meeting and did not return.

Members discussed the value of the BID. 

Mrs Murphy reminded Members that an annual report was presented to the Committee in the autumn of each year.

The Chairman proposed the following recommendation which was seconded by Mr Potter.

RESOLVED

The Committee welcomes the new initiatives being introduced by BID and recommends to Cabinet that the Council continues to work in partnership with the BID and to support the ‘Renewal Business Proposal’.

The committee specifically raised the following points:

·         The night time economy for all residents

·         Encourage independent shops

·         Support innovative markets

·         Work with the University and College