It’s not a matter of BID or BUST! Taunton has a bright future and there are alternatives to the BID tax.
Taunton Chamber of Commerce as the BID proposers are inappropriately talking Taunton Town Centre down and effectively scare-mongering for a YES vote, painting the proposed Taunton Business Improvement District (BID) as the future saviour of the town centre; a must have as the only option in order for the town to survive what they appear to see as a doomsday scenario we’re in!
The August 2019 BID newsletter and 29th August Gazette article says:
“livelihoods will be adversely affected if Taunton is allowed to slowly fail”
And at the BID launch it was said:
“if we don’t do anything, nothing is going to change” and “something is better than nothing”
And in an email sent to businesses in early February BID were telling businesses there is no alternative or plan B.
Put simply, all this scaremongering by BID is rubbish, why is the Taunton BID Steering Group being being so negative and downbeat about our lovely town?!
The thing is, town centres and high streets along the whole retail industry has changed profoundly the past couple of decades, in most part due to online shopping trends, and Taunton BID just can’t do anything about this. In fact, Taunton is fairing much better compared to other town’s, a representative from Greenslades said this in an interview with the County Gazette in September 2018, and just this July 2019, Somerset West & Taunton (SWT) Council confirmed that Taunton's retail vacancy rates are coming in at an impressive 6%, compared to the national average of 9% (so fewer empty shop units than the national average by a third). These statistics are for Taunton without a BID, and you can bet that we’re fairing even better than many towns that have BID’s - in fact it appears we’re already doing better than a hundred’s of other towns that have BIDs!
Even the BID Consultants seem to agree and wrote the following about Taunton in the feasibility study for Taunton Chamber of Commerce, which is further proof of how well Taunton is already positioned as having a healthy High Street:
“Taunton has a vibrant town centre with representation from most of the key brands in the primary retail area and a strong independent retail sector representing high quality goods and services.”
“Taunton was ranked 3rd Healthiest High Street in the UK in a survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health in 2018, indicating that the mix of businesses in Taunton town centre is sustainable and of good quality and that the quality of life offered here is good, only Edinburgh and Canterbury were considered better than Taunton.”
And our own MP said the following about Taunton in February 2019:
All the above is great to hear eh?
Yes perhaps it might be nice to buck the national trend even more, but lets’ be grateful for what Taunton has achieved already, and there are strong initiatives already in place, great plans afoot and alternative ways to achieve greater success, without making 440 businesses pay an unnecessary and unpopular private BID tax in a veiled attempt to be “the saviour of Taunton”. We really don’t need a BID, but we’re being pushed by a few who want to “jump on the BID bandwagon” for the sake of it, for what is a very unpopular project that is merely “window dressing” we have tried before unsuccessfully. So if Taunton is striving for improvements to the town, lets look at what else is already in place or planned to improve the town, and explore other possible alternatives there we could leverage to effect change.
But before we explore some alternatives, in contrast to what the Taunton BID scaremongers would have you think, lets demonstrate to you the FACT that a town having a BID is NOT PROVEN to give it’s town a better High Street and stem declines, see the following recent data and then the questions after.
Source: Asktraders report 4th November 2019. The demise of the high street: data reveals the top thriving and declining cities and towns in the UK.
Q1: What do 18/20 of these High Streets have in common?
Answer: A BID.
Q2: In this same survey does the town that came out as the top High Street in the UK have a BID?
Answer: No, it doesn't have a BID.
All just further evidence that BID is not the saviour of the High Street Taunton BID are "selling", they’ve been saying there are no alternatives and no plan B so Taunton will die without a BID. Bit melodramatic isn’t it?
Ask yourself, why has Taunton developed into one of the healthiest HIgh Streets in the UK without a BID? Why have a lot of new High Street businesses, both nationals and independent sdecided to establish themselves in Taunton the past couple of years? perhaps there is more that could be done, but that’s without forcing in an additional business rate.
One further note on this survey, interestingly Poole came out as the worst High Street, and remember it has a BID! But not just that, the BID Consultant who developed their BID proposal is our very own Taunton BID Consultant right now. Bet she '“sold” BID as the saviour of their High Street a couple years back, and look at it now. Here’s an link to an article about this here; Poole named as fastest declining High Street in the UK.
Let the Council do their job at improving the economic prosperity of Taunton. After all, this is what we already pay business rates for.
Foremost it’s clear that SWT Council is already working hard for Taunton, many people appreciate and respect what the Council is striving for, so we shouldn’t worry that the County Town of Taunton will be left behind and “allowed to slowly fail” as Taunton BID are claiming will happen, that’s just not in the interests (or plans) of Somerset County Council or SWT Council. We even have a manifesto commitment from the new Liberal Democrat (LibDem) led council administration to develop vibrant and economically secure Town Centres, so lets give them time to deliver on this promise for which they have made a great start so far. See more on this subject in our article ‘Is the Taunton BID proposal right for our new Council to back?’
Government response to the Eleventh Report of Session 2017 – 19 of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee inquiry into high streets and town centres in 2030. May 2019.
SWT Council have a major initiative for Economic Development and Inward Investment going on anyway, so Taunton BID saying the Councils have more money for business is yet again proven to be another scare-mongering mistruth by Taunton BID. SWT Council have been building a nice Economic Development Fund, and through the Government Business Rates Retention pilot scheme for Somerset, for 2019/20 the anticipated gain being generated is c£4 million. This is business rates money being kept back locally from central government for local authorities to spend on high streets and wider economic development.
SWT Council has brilliant plans for transformative change in Taunton, which specifically includes plans to revitalise and regenerate the town centre and these plans are what will lead to real success and prosperity for Taunton as a whole with it’s Garden Town status. Plans also include bidding for the Governments’ Future High Streets Fund, which is part of a £675 million pot of money the Government has already put aside to help high streets. Read more about our views on these Council initiatives in our article here, and further evidence of SWT Council’s commitment to continue reviewing and investing in the district economy is show by their current research.
As part of the Council’s Garden Town plans, in July 2019 SWT Council have hired a Garden Town Project Manager, whose responsibilities will of course also include the town centre, given that regenation and revitalisation of the town centre is part of the Garden Town plans. It is this fundamental change to the town that will make a real difference to the vitality of the town centre, not a BID.
18/2/20. As SWT Council says here they are working "to create a vibrant town centre and a vibrant economy that goes with it." As we've been saying all along, BID is not the only option, our council have things well in hand. Let's keep £1.45mn in the pockets of businesses! Click on image to view the short video.
SWT Council have also said a new website will be created to promote the town. Such a website is likely to “sell” the whole of Taunton including the town centre, shouldn’t we get behind this to ensure everything Taunton has to offer is promoted. It’s important that the whole town of Taunton as Garden Town is marketed to thrive, because if we only invest in the very centre i.e. exclude Station Road and East Reach, there is a danger of these areas retail areas declining. There are also assets outside of the proposed BID area which could be leveraged in promotion.
Despite the council’s statement of intent for a new Taunton website, SWT Council is already investing in promoting Taunton, quite successfully really. i.e. see their Visit Taunton marketing and promotion initiatives https://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/taunton/ and https://twitter.com/visit_taunton. So with existing online promotion of Taunton and a new Garden Town website coming, does Taunton BID really need to spend even more money marketing Taunton, perhaps by building another website, surely it’s duplicating effort which wastes money, and there’s a danger of brand confliction? Even at the BID launch event a businessman whom had moved to the town relatively recently, commented on how people living outside of Taunton seem to hold the town in higher regard than many of it’s residents, so current external marketing can’t be that bad!
Click image to read our related article which provides more detail on the Council’s exciting plans for Taunton (opens in a new window).
The Council is successfully supporting large scale events, which this summer included the Cricket World Cup Village, and then for example there are the annual Flower Show and Vivary Park Concerts that have become phenomenal annual successes, and they are already leading on an annual Christmas lights switching on event called WinterFest. Castle Green is now being utilised as an event space, but perhaps not enough yet in our opinion, so maybe more local business, arts and cultural community groups could work with the council to increase it’s event usage. There are even new community events coming along, for example this year saw the first Armed Forces Day event, and next year’s is planned to be much bigger and more spectacular. Given that MP’s don’t think BID’s are fit for purpose and should be replaced by more community driven groups / activities for high streets and town centre’s, isn’t it time businesses started giving even more priority and support to community arts & culture groups around Taunton to organise more events in the town centre? And when it comes to cultural events which can lead to increased footfall for the town centre, are shop owners really best placed to be arranging these? Perhaps Taunton could be well served by a community events type committee or association, if there isn’t one already. With the Council and businesses encouraging and supporting more community led events it could be a win-win all round.
SWT Council providing additional funding for the town centre is an option of course. If the BID is approved the two Council’s will have to pay in the region of £18,000 each year to the BID company anyway, money which could be invested in Taunton without a BID. But more than this, despite perceived budget problems for local authorities, we all see how money can be found if needed for worthy projects. If we take Firepool for example, c£11 million has been spent so far in over 10 years with what to show?, “grassing part of the site ready for the Cricket World Cup this year reportedly cost in the region of £850,000, and a £250,000 budget was approved this year for site professional services (i.e. surveying, project staff etc). Firepool aside but on the subject of finding funds, it was recently admitted by SWT that £10 million had been wasted on the bungled merger of TDBC and WSDC. Finally the Council are funding the Taunton BID process from feasibility study through consultation and ballot for £45,000 without much scrutiny. So the Council have easily found these funds for what is a speculative exercise, but again it’s a winner for them if they can help get a YES mandate for the businesses to cough up more money to spend on the town centre (see our article about this subject here).
These funding numbers are eye watering, and ok we appreciate that some amounts will come from a variety of central and local government funds, but still, Taunton Town Centre could perhaps do something with a few extra thousand pounds from the Council - even if to fund the Christmas lights. Yes the Firepool site is widely recognised as important for Taunton Town Centre, but if it was needed, surely the Council would also ensure that our existing town centre is properly invested in first, requiring only a fraction of what they are spending on Firepool every year at the moment. But considering the facts of how healthy Taunton’s high street is, perhaps the Council already recognise it’s not worth investing more money in it, but naturally they would be fine if the businsses themselves wanted to waste their money on extra “window dressing”. Interestingly, before the last BID 2007-2012 Taunton already had a public funded Town Centre Partnership in place with a Town Centre Manager, all of which was lost when the BID collapsed. Not having a Town Centre Manager is unusual for a town of Taunton’s size, and if the Council thought the role was needed one could argue that the Council would have invested in one by now, but as they haven’t it raises the question whether one is really needed (i.e like a BID Manager). But on the other hand if one is really needed, surely the Council could find the funding for one, like they did before given they can find the budget for a Garden Town Project Manager (or perhaps this is the solution?). Even on the subject of BID schemes, if SWT Council thought a new BID would be such a worthwhile scheme to encourage Taunton businsses to do again they could have proposed it themselves, but they haven’t felt the need to.
Ultimately town management and promotion should be done at the local authority level, even the current SWT Council Portfolio Holder for Asset Management and Economic Development once said this, and we really should let the new LibDem council leadership deliver on their manifesto promise rather than jump on a private taxation scheme for the sake of it!
The Council has it’s own plans to increase footfall and compete with online shopping, let’s let them carry on rather than absolve them of responsibility for Taunton!
Click image to download “the vision for our Garden Town” (opens in a new window).
Look what the council already has planned to increase footfall in the town centre as part of Taunton's Garden Town plans! This is from “the vision for our Garden Town”.
March 2020. Good to hear SWT Council say Taunton is bucking negative High Street trends on a couple of fronts! We say keep up the good work SWT rather than let businesses through a BID absolve you of this responsibility at their expense when costs are high enough! Link to article HERE.
Taunton is already blessed with a great events calendar! So why on earth Taunton BID want to tax businesses and spend 60% of the project budget on loads more seems a crazy waste of money when high street costs are high enough. There are several Council backed events in the town centre, for which there is a risk the BID levy payers will simply ‘take on’ responsibility eventually given some are not even covered in the Baseline Agreements provided. The Council have already asked the BID Steering group Chair if the BID would consider taking on the Ice Rink if the BID is voted in - it’s a real danger!
If the business community want to work together to influence and effect change there are other ways to do this.
Town centre management partnerships are good examples of alternative place management options that are much more widely accepted and less controversial / divisive on business communities than forcing in a BID. Here’s what the BID foundation with the Association of Placement Management had to say in a 2019 report:
“It is important that BIDs form in locations where they are perceived to be the right form of place management organisation, as other alternative place management structures exist. For example, businesses may form more informal partnerships, or the Local Authority may create a town centre management partnership. In some instances, Community Interest Companies have been established. Failure is a very negative and loaded term, when, in actual fact, ‘failure’ to establish a BID may well be the best course of action for a location.
We’ve tried BID before and failed with 2 NO votes, so perhaps a BID is just not the right form of placement management organisation and course of action for Taunton, and hence we should be pursuing the alternatives. So if the town centre businesses would like to work together as a more formal representative voice and town management board, there’s always the option to come together and form a Town Centre Partnership supported by the council. Albeit without the pot of money BID’s raise by forcing the BID levy on businesses, although usually with some Council funding, they are popular throughout the UK as a way of bringing businesses together to influence and effect change on their towns. Good thing is that they are not divisive because there’s no mandatory levy, yet tend to receive strong council support and funding, in addition to being able to act as vehicles to raise money from grants and sponsorship etc for towns. In fact Taunton happened to have a really good Town Centre Partnership running for many years before it took on BID in 2007, and when BID collapsed so did the partnership; so BID is to clearly to blame for “killing off” this town centre partnership we already had. Just look at this press release announcing the formation of Cannock Chase Town Partnership, it’s aims are just the same as BID:
With the ending of formal Town Centre Management in Tooting, a report by the Chief Executive of Wandsworth Council on the NO outcome of the Tooting Business Improvement District ballot (November 2019) confirms a voluntary business association will be established to provide ‘the voice” a BID would have as a focal point for future engagement with the Council and other agencies.
Let’s remember that most towns in the UK do NOT have a BID, and they are only one form of place management
Then there’s Hexham following the failure of it’s BID, bringing together the County Council, Town Council and Community Partnership to enable town regeneration projects. As you’ll note this is a much wider multi-stakeholder and inclusive approach, bringing together the community as a whole without putting town regeneration responsibility on taxing the few through forcing in a BID.
There are also alternatives to place management organisations. Rather than create a new “exclusive club” bringing another layer of membership and bureaucracy to the town, perhaps there’s an opportunity to strengthen existing business associations and membership bodies, i.e. the Taunton Chamber of Commerce. Chamber membership is only £42/year, and there is already an experienced team supporting and lobbying for business interests across Taunton, it’s branding catchphrase even says “The voice of local business in Taunton”. So rather than business people giving up their time to be BID Director’s, perhaps some might be willing to get involved with the Chamber, to make it an even stronger organisation supporting Taunton businesses. As far as we understand, Taunton Chamber already has the “ear” and trust of local authorities and community organisations, which is a distinct positive as opposed to a new organisation (the BID company) needing to build this. Read the following “About Us” information from the Taunton Chamber of Commerce website, most of would just be replicated by a BID company.
There are other trader associations / groups in Taunton already such as the Taunton Retailers Group and the Bath Place Traders Association, and we’ve seen businesses in Riverside & St James Street get together to seek solutions through informal meetings as we’ve seen following closure of the Coal Orchard car park and market themeselves as an independent shopping area. So again, rather than diverting energy and money to BID on what is effectively another traders association, albeit with the remit to spend other peoples money, perhaps there’s more merit in maximising the commerce groups we have already, to make them even stronger together if businesses want to co-operate more effectively.
Even Council’s sometimes recognise there are alternatives to forcing in a BID.
As a final particular point of interest, the following table is a list of Pro’s for a BID not to continue, drawn up by a UK Borough Council in March 2019 when considering whether to vote YES or NO to renew a BID. In fact after weighing up all the Pro’s and Con’s they voted NO, leading to the BID renewal vote failing (further evidence of how Council votes create bias in BID ballot’s, but that’s another story). Although the BID went to ballot again 6 months later in September 2019, the Council did the right thing by abstaining, and still the BID got a NO vote. But as you can see from their list of Pros for voting NO, there are always alternatives to BID. This is strong evidence that even for Council’s there are sometimes better alternatives to a BID, showing us “where there’s a will there’s a way”.
