Some 400 retailers in Birmingham are being asked to vote for a Business Improvement District targeted at their sector.
The city already has a BID covering leisure, conference and business activity in the Broad Street area, which began work in 2005.
The Birmingham City Centre Partnership believes a second scheme could raise more than £1m a year to improve and promote the city’s retail offer.
Kevin Breese, general manager of the Harvey Nichols store and chair of the partnership’s Retail Birmingham arm, expects a levy on retailers to generate more than £500,000 a year.
“We think we could then more than double that budget, with additional voluntary contributions from the owners of the Bullring, Mailbox, Pallasades and Pavilions, the city council and Marketing Birmingham,” he said.
Voting begins shortly and will run until early November. If the BID proposal receives majority backing, Breese says the new ‘not for profit’ Retail Birmingham Ltd would begin operations next April.
BIDs, which follow the successful US model for improving downtown urban
areas, were launched in the UK in 2003.
Thirty have now been established in England, and both Edinburgh and Glasgow recently unveiled similar pilot schemes.
References: EGi News 19/09/06
