Business plan launch event 22/1 - No Taunton BID’s presentation.

The invitation

Well 22nd January was an interesting day for the founder of No Taunton BID. Shortly before 10.30am that day he was suddenly receiving emails from businesses across town asking who from NO BID was giving the speech at the event that night - answer was simply don’t know anything about it. This is the email businesses across Taunton were sent c10.15 (relevant line in bold).

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: BID Consultant
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 at 10:15
Subject: Taunton BID - its not too late!
To: Lucy Bus

Good morning - just a reminder to say that at 6pm this evening at County Room, Somerset County Cricket Club we will be presenting the Taunton BID Proposal. This plan is the result of many conversations that we have had with the Taunton town centre business community.

You will hear from  some of your business colleagues who have volunteered many hours of their time to devise the resulting plan to really put Taunton on the map and make it an even more desirable and successful destination for residents, customers and visitors in the future.

In the interests of balance you will also hear from the Taunton NO BID campaign who wish put their case against this scheme.

It is not too late to let us know that you would like to come along and join in the discussion.

If you haven't already done so, please either RSVP to this email or text XX

Look forward to seeing you later

Well come about 11 o’clock it all became clear when he received an email from the BID Chairman inviting him to talk for the NO BID side!

From: BID Chairman
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 at 10:59
Subject: tonights meeting

Although tonight's meeting is really supposed to be to present the BID plan which has been put together by the working group from feedback gained, in the interest of total transparency, if you would like to say a few words about why you think people should vote "no", I can give you the floor for 3 minutes. The time will be limited as we have a lot to get through, but we thought it only right that you have a chance to make your case. The group want to offer this as some have only heard second hand or read a few bits of your social media, and are keen to hear it from the horses mouth as it were. 

Do let me know if you would like me to give you a slot.

Nice gesture but a bit taken back and felt underhanded considering the whole of Taunton had already been told we want to make our case and will be there to do it. Couldn’t exactly say “no thanks”, how would that have looked and what PR mileage would they have got from such a public decision? But saw the nice gesture for what it was, thankful for the invitation which was duly accepted, and BID did apologise after it was highlighted how inappropriately it had been handled by them. So all worked out well in the end.

THE ‘NO TAUNTON BID’ SPEECH

The NO BID representation speech was quickly drafted and duly delivered in the first speaking slot. For those not there, here’s what was said:

Firstly, thankyou to Colin and the steering group for inviting me to speak this evening, it was a nice last minute surprise.  But a welcome one at that, because there is an important decision to be made by Taunton businesses, and it’s critical that you consider both voting perspectives and some of the risks you could be voting for with BID.

For the next hour or two you’ll hear the YES campaign proposition and I’ve only got a few minutes right now, which is understandable as it’s Taunton BID’s night.  But in this time I can’t put the full NO case to you, so what I’m doing is introducing a few of themes for your consideration as you hear and assess the business plan.

Before I go further I’d like to say is that I and others are not against the idea of businesses trying to help their own trading environment, that’s commendable, the question is whether the BID tax is the right vehicle to force on all businesses, whether they vote for it or not. Like anything in life there is good and bad, and that applies to BIDs.

You only have to do a bit of research to find evidence of the problems many poor BIDs exhibit, they are; over-promising & underdelivering, poor return on investment, poor governance, and lack of transparency & accountability. Despite what we were told, Taunton’s last BID 2007-2012 showed all these traits, and was clearly documented by the council when the BID was voted out.  

BID is an emotive subject because whilst some voters might see value and can easily afford it, there are many that just don’t see the value and don’t want to be forced to part with their hard earned cash.  I’ve spoken to independents and nationals who just don’t want the extra overhead at a time when running costs are high enough.   

You’re all business people who will be making a business decision for what’s in the best interests of your business, so here are just 4 consideration points I suggest you keep in your mind as you listen tonight:

Firstly, is the BID map fair?  It’s one of the most convoluted BID maps I’ve seen. Really it should be everyone or not at all, all town centre businesses pay it or not, and that was good enough for the last 3 BID proposals. Just 440 of 800 businesses are being asked to dip their hands in their pockets for the greater good of Taunton as a whole, for a BID levy that will cost 50% more than last time. Also is it fair Morrisons won’t have to pay because they were drawn out, yet neighbouring small businesses will have to?  Just a thought.

Secondly, as you read the plan do you get the feeling the council should be doing that or doing more of it anyway?  BID will tell you that baseline agreements will be put in place with the councils to safeguard services they provide. But these are worthless agreements and are not legally binding, in fact British BIDs own 2019 survey shows tells us that only 27% of councils are adhering to baseline agreements. So you could be inviting BID to pay for things the council does now, be it Christmas lights, extra cleaning, marketing, events.  This is what happened with Taunton BID last time and does with other BIDs now. The new libdem council administration have started in the right way making the town centre better already, so why would we want to absolve them of that responsibility?

Third, Safety and crime.  We are expecting big things on crime in the business plan, it’s a big concern in Taunton generally and for the nationals in particular, but will we see it tonight?  It was identified as a key priority in BIDs own feasibility study with one quote being “until the security of the town was sorted out there was little point in marketing Taunton or encouraging new customers to visit”.  Weston BID is big on crime, they spend 60% of their budget on crime and pay for wardens.  But from what we’ve seen so far in the precis there’s a chance that this BID does not even meet the standards for BIDs set out in the National Business Crime Solution manifesto. For a decent crime solution in Taunton to solve our problems, we estimate that 30%+ of the budget shouId be allocated on safer and secure, if not it could be concerning.  So lets see if we get what their own feasibility study told them.

Finally, is the business plan a fully costed and detailed plan, with clear and tangible projects to be delivered – saying we will do XYZ, and this project initiative will cost you XYX. For example what are the 2 big event ideas, what sort of extra cleaning do we want to pay for with the council, and has it all been costed. It’s worrying that we’ve heard differing views from different steering group members on whether it’s costed or not. The precis seems to have a lot of blase language in it -  we will look at, look to, work with, encourage or might do that. You’re all business people; analyse and question BID on each section; if you took it to your bank for a £1.4 million pound investment, would they be confident you’ve presented a detailed and fully costed plan. 

I’d have loved to speak to you now for an hour but respecting the time I’ve been given that’s all I’m able to say, and as the full business plan is released we will put out a full response with some more alternative perspectives for the NO case.

If you haven’t already visited our website please do, it’s www. NoTauntonBID.co.uk

And myself and another trader will stay around at the end of the evening, and we’re very happy to go deeper into any particular points I’ve made and others, and answer any questions you may have for us.

Thank you.

REFLECTION

The words of support received both before and after the event from NO voters was overwhelming, considering the short notice, the moral support was certainly appreciated! The word “brave” came up a couple times, but loads of businesses reliant on the NO representation so happy to oblige, and any NO voter that attended was also brave and deserves a big thank you for attending.

Yes there was a feel good factor from most of the audience about BID on the night, but you have to remember that this was effectively a YES campaign event so most attendees were YES camp anyway, with a few TBC’s and NO’s, whilst many NO’s had decided not to waste their time attending (and to be honest they didn’t miss much new detail anyway). But a feel good factor is not enough to back a £1.4mn business plan and the presentation did nothing to dispel many concerns about this BID proposal. The only new information businesses really got was the BID budget, but the whole business plan still seems very “woolly” with uncosted initiatives – yet a good BID business plan contains a lot more than that.

Considering it was a YES campaign event, what was noticeable though was the poor show of support for Taunton BID by way of YES voter turnout, altogether perhaps c60 voters out of 440, interesting and that includes TBC’s and NO’s. Also interesting that BIDs’ survey from their consultation stage had such a low response rate of 20%. A BID will only work with a true majority of businesses fully engaged behind it working proactively together, and Board Directors for Taunton’s last failed BID 2007-12 found that out the hard way!

But the final reflection is one of disappointment at what Taunton BID allowed some of their speakers to say. It might have gone over the heads of already converted YES voters with all the militant BID euphoria in the air, but some of the derogatory and personal insulting terminology directed to anyone not thinking of voting YES, genuinely upset some. BID speakers calling people stupid and braindead if they don’t vote YES really isn’t what one would have expected to hear, just not professional. Add to that the atmosphere created by what was a YES campaign event and it’s easy to understand how some TBC and NO voters felt, who were respectfully there to listen to what BID had to say. For that we asked Taunton BID for a public apology for any offence caused, but they’ve replied and basically said it won’t be forthcoming.

Roll on the ballot, remember voting opens 20th February, so as soon as you get your ballot paper simply put your X in the NO box and post it back!