Is the BID process flawed? You decide!

Here are some examples that highlight the flaws in the BID process, which leads to uphill challenges for those businesses that don’t see value in a BID, and thus don’t want it;

1. Self-appointed BID proposers only need to ‘prove’ to a local authority that they have the interest of 5% of the businesses in order to ask for funding and put a full BID proposal forward. The Means, who carried out the initially study in Aberystwyth, didn’t even have to substantiate any claims it made.

2. The BID Consultation phase is not to determine whether a Town wants a BID or not, it is there to best plan a vote YES campaign and massage their marketing / PR messaging to appeal to YES voters, whether it can be delivered or not.

3. BID proposers put together vote YES campaigns funded by public money, usually from the Council yet there is no funding for a NO Campaign. This amount of money can buy a lot of marketing and PR for a YES propaganda campaign in an attempt to get businesses buying into their “utopian vision” run by a start-up company that doesn’t yet exist.

4. The ballot is organised in partnership between the Council and YES Campaign. The timetable is dictated by the YES Campaign and ballot papers can be posted with only their pro-BID literature. During the ballot, besides the Council, the YES campaign is the ONLY other party allowed to know who has voted, which enables them to do targeted canvassing, whilst the NO side doesn’t have this opportunity.

5. There is no legal requirement for BID proposers to have informed or consulted with all businesses in a BID area, which tends to lead to them focussing on motivating only YES voters to exercise their votes, whilst hoping NO voters will quietly forget about or not think it’s important to vote when they receive a ballot cards in the post. There’s not even any requirement to ensure every voting business receives their ballot card.

6. Because Councils are BID partners that have vested interests in raising more money through business rates to be spent in their areas, many Councils tend to vote YES. But given they will normally to have multiple properties within a BID area, and such properties tend to have high rateable values (i.e. car parks), there’s Council voting bias against businesses that don’t want a BID. This BID initially got voted in with 14 Council votes, despite a clear conflict of interest, they still submitted their ballot papers. Ceredigion County Council should done the right thing and abstained from voting so in the spirit of BID regulations it becomes a decision for the businesses, by the businesses.

7. BID’s last 5 years and are then voted on again by the Levy payers. But again, BID companies only put the YES case to voters, and use the Levy they have collected from everyone to fund another vote YES campaign, despite taking money from NO voters. This will raise its head shortly in Aberystwyth !

Is Aberystwyth going to see another FLAWED BID Campaign ?

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