A government steering group is meeting today to thrash out proposals for legislation on Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).
The BPF is to meet with the CBI, the RICS, the BCSC, the BRC, London First, the Local Government Association and landlords such as Land Securities, to determine how best to fund American-style BIDs across the UK. The results of the discussions, which will be held over several months, will be put forward for inclusion in government legislation.
Senior policy officer at the RICS, Joanna Sumners, said: “We will be stressing that we would like to see BIDs straddle two local authorities, or form only a small part of the local authority rather than the whole. Otherwise there is a danger that businesses will see BIDs contributions as just another tax which goes straight into the coffers of the local authority.
“We are pleased that the DTLR wants to keep the structure of BIDs flexible so that local authorities and businesses can decide on an ad hoc basis how their organisation will work.”
BCSC president Neil Mitchenall said that the meetings would focus on the contributions by the three ‘stakeholders’- landlord, tenant and government- to the BID.
“We envisage a scheme based on percentage of rents. The retailer would pay, for example, a 1% surcharge on its rent towards the BID, which would be matched by the landlord.
We would also ask the government to provide seed funding for BIDs as often these things are very cash-intensive at the front end.”
Part of today’s discussions will involve setting a timetable for talks to be concluded in order to present results back to the government.
EGi News 07/03/02
