BID Group gets new Chairman
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| Stuart Bailey becomes Worcester BID's Chairman |
A Steering Group which is tasked with helping to deliver Worcester’s proposed Business Improvement District (BID) has a new Chairman.
Stuart Bailey, Director at Thomas Guise Solicitors in Foregate Street heads the Commercial Property and Residential Property Teams. He will chair the BID Group which comprises businesses from a range of sectors and locations within the city centre.
A BID is a scheme where businesses identify projects or services that will add value and agree on the level of funds which they themselves will contribute to in order to deliver their chosen projects. Contributions from the business community usually range from between 1 and 1.5 % of the property’s rateable value and this is expected to raise about £300,000 per year in Worcester for 5 years. BIDs already successfully operate in Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Coventry and Bristol and a vote is set to take place in Stratford in March. The Worcester BID is likely to go to a ballot next summer.
Individual meetings with retailers, office managers and owners conducted to date have suggested that amongst the projects they would most like to see are increased levels of marketing, more events, greater links between the riverside and city centre businesses, the introduction of street rangers and enhanced pedestrian signage.
Speaking about his appointment Stuart said ‘I am delighted to be Chairman of a Group which really wants to help drive footfall and increased spend in the city centre. It is a crucial time for businesses to get together and say what projects they want to see which will help to achieve that. We already have an excellent Steering Group and I want to ensure that we can use the feedback from the businesses in the city centre to have projects which really will make a positive difference to traders.’
BIDs Project Manager, Adrian Field added ‘Stuart’s work in all aspects of commercial property, his knowledge of the local environment and passion for wanting to improve the city centre make him the ideal Chairman. What we must ensure is that more businesses let us know what issues they have so that we can work together at looking at projects which will help to overcome these.’
The BID Steering Group which comprises representatives of the business community in the city centre has been tasked with ensuring that the BID contains the projects which businesses most want. The BID operates to deliver projects additional to those ordinarily provided by Councils and the Police – this is monitored by baseline agreements. ‘The BID is not in the business of funding projects which replace or duplicate anything the City and County Councils or Police normally provide’ Mr Field added.
The Worcester BID boundary is broadly the river, Croft Road, Castle Street, Foregate Street, Sansome Street, City Walls Road, Sidbury, King Street and Severn Street and involves the 623 businesses within this area who have a rateable value of over £7,500 per year.
For more details on the BID, to arrange a visit or to find out your rateable value, please contact Project Manager Adrian Field on 01905 722337 or email info@worcesterbid.com