Taunton BID refer people to their website for Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) answers, but just how reliable and truthful are they? Well there are certainly a few mistruths in their FAQ’s, and for now here are just 3 to show you.

Who is behind the Taunton BID scheme should be a straight forward one to answer, but we can suggest 3 more entities they should consider adding to their FAQ answer above:

SWT Council. BID’s are legislated for as non-domestic business rates, with local authorities having core roles and responsibilities in the development and management of BID’s. There is no disputing this, after all even central Government documentation says this, but most BID proposers are careful not to highlight this fact. Even Exeter BID (InExeter) have the honesty to list Exeter City Council as one of their partners, but Taunton BID would rather hide this fact, yet even SWT Council documentation states the Council is supporting the Taunton Chamber of Commerce with the BID process. There’s even a member of the Council on the Taunton BID Working Group which is developing the BID. See our article ‘Taunton BID doesn't like to say it’s a council partnership - but that’s exactly what it is’.
Taunton Retailers Group. Now this is an interesting one, who is this bunch, some secret cartel that is supporting the BID? A group of large nationals receiving special treatment or influence perhaps? Again, there is SWT Council documentation stating that this Taunton Retailers Group along with the Council is supporting the Taunton Chamber of Commerce with developing the BID.
Morledge & Co. Much like Taunton BID have Destination Management & Marketing supporting them, they've also engaged the services of a Strategic Marketing & Public Relations agency to help with their vote YES propaganda campaign to spend yet more of the £45,000 SWT Council have given them to help secure a YES vote. Read more in our article ‘It’s just a marketing & PR propaganda exercise for Taunton BID’.

Will the BID deliver what it says, really is a million dollar question, well Taunton’s failed BID 2007-12 didn’t and was voted out, but what about Taunton BID’s FAQ answer? As the Government’s own guidance and best practice document says about BIDs; “The BID proposal is legally binding but the business plan can be changed.” So straight away one can see that the BID business plan is not a legally binding document as Taunton BID are claiming. It’s content can be changed by the BID company as they feel fit, effectively the business plan is a guide but certainly not a legally binding document to be adhered to once the BID is established. The problem is that many BID’s fail to deliver on their promises, Taunton BID most likely know this and so are trying to falsely reassure voters with legal talk.

The financials part is an interesting one as well. BID’s do publish a summary of their financial expenditure at the end of each year for the previous year, but it is entirely down to each BID how and what it shows its levy payers, and spending is easily moved to paint a picture to suit. Also, as private limited companies, BID companies tend to opt for small business exemption accounts which only require them to render very limited accounts for publication at Companies House. As private limited companies not even levy payers have the right to see the full accounts of their BID company, it really is at the discretion of the BID company Director’s what information they share and to who, and as private companies they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act either. One of the reasons for the failure of Taunton BID 2007-12 was a lack of transparency and communication with traders, and you’ve guessed it, that included financials by not circulating full accounts. Even now Taunton BID are showing a lack of transparency with regards to finances. They’ve been asked since July 2019 to disclose their budgets and funding, but have declined to share this information, only for our own investigations to discover they have taken £45,000 of public money from SWT Council, and maybe more from elsewhere. So where public money is concerned why the lack of financial transparency?

In short, the only legally enforceable things for a BID once voted in are the BID area map & the levy table i.e. who and what will be charged for the 5 years. For more information on the subject of BID company accountability, see our article ‘Lots of power for a few people, with a lack of transparency & accountability’.

Fact is SWT Council will not be legally obliged to provide all services it does now, only statutory services to a certain minimal level (i.e. highways, cleaning, lighting etc), but there is no legal requirement to provide many of the discretionary services SWT Council provides so well for Taunton (i.e. extra cleaning, florals, events, marketing, Christmas lights etc). For statutory as well as discretionary services, baseline agreements should be put in place which are meant to protect the discretionary services in particular, but as the 2018 British BID’s survey shows us 39% of Councils are not adhering to their baseline agreements, see our article ‘Can Taunton BID really promise us we won’t lose council services in the BID area? Doesn’t look like it’. The failed Taunton BID 2007-12 took on funding and services from the Council in the years pre-BID, and when that BID was voted out there was a town centre “vacuum” for funding and manpower. It’s taken many years to slowly get back to the stage we are at now with the Council paying for and organising great florals, town marketing and events etc, but voting in a BID risks all this yet again.

Then there’s the final line about there being no additional money to improve Taunton town centre, when SWT Council are known to be investing in regenerating and revitalising the town centre, and the new council leadership have a willingness to look at supporting new ideas to improve Taunton. So clearly there are alternatives and there’s already new council money going into Taunton, see our article ‘It’s not a matter of BID or BUST! Taunton has a bright future and there are alternatives to BID’. It’s just scare-tactics for Taunton BID to say there will be no additional money for Taunton in the future “so the businesses better cough up”. At the expense of levy paying businesses, voting in a BID really is the start of a slippery slope to let the Council “off the hook” needing to continue investing in the town.

So why does all this matter? Well the last Taunton BID 2007-12 failed and as Council documentation shows, contributing factors included BID company reputation problems and poor transparency etc. Well from these FAQ answers along with other mistruths we’ve highlighted already such as their false claims of match funding and some of their Q&A answers, Taunton BID are not instilling great confidence in voters that the BID will be any different this time if voted in. Another BID really isn’t worth the risk, because yet again they’re already showing themselves not be honest and trustworthy.

FAQ mistruths from Taunton BID.