A business improvement district (BID) is a unique and exciting way for businesses to control and improve their local trading environment. The CH1 BID is a 5-year plan that will enable local businesses to collaborate on ideas to help improve Chester’s trading environment.
BIDs are business-led. The CH1 BID will be overseen by the Chester BID Company, an independent board made up of local business representatives. BIDs are not restricted to Chester. Over 170 towns and cities in the UK have voted in favour of a BID generating millions of pounds of private sector investment.
A BID does not replace the services carried out by the Council, Police or any other public agency. A small BID levy will pay for specific services and functions on top of the services provided by the Council. The BID levy is a specific fund to be used to invest in projects and special services identified and controlled by the businesses themselves.
These additional services will be agreed by the Board in consultation with all businesses in the Business Improvement District. The collection of the levy could generate over £2.5 million over the next 5 years for Chester city centre. This can be spent in whatever way you and other BID levy paying businesses wish to see it being spent, to contribute to a more vibrant economic city centre. For instance, a BID in Chester could fund:-
- Clean and green the city centre i.e. hanging baskets, floral displays, improved street washing etc
- Enhancements to city centre safety and security
- Quality 'Welcome to Chester' programme including dedicated CH1 welcome hosts, meeters and greeters
- More quality events and festivals
- Quality controlled and managed street entertainment
- Dedicated marketing campaigns for CH1 businesses
- Genuine cost savings for all businesses in the BID area through CH1 joint purchasing deals i.e. lower utility costs, insurance costs, janitorial supply costs plus many more
- Dedicated city wide Christmas 'dressing' programme
- A leadership voice for the CH1 businesses
In mid-2014 Chester businesses will be asked to vote on whether they agree to the CH1 BID. CH1 Chester BID Company will be consulting more with all the businesses in the coming months to determine what the BID levy should be used for. A YES vote from the businesses involved in the ballot is needed in order to start seeing the activities being delivered.
Everyone located within the CH1 BID area will benefit. The return on any investment through the BID levy is far greater than the total contributed by any one business as CH1 will have much greater purchasing power and economies of scale when transacting on behalf of a city united rather than individual businesses.