Taunton has an interesting BID history:
2007 - BID established after a YES ballot result, with a 5 year term ending in 2012.
2012 - BID renewal ballot resulted in a NO, so BID kicked out.
2014 - BID development ballot resulted in a NO again (with a worse result than in 2012).
2020 - Some bright sparks decide to bring BID back to ballot again, and the ballot was ‘suspended’ 2 hours before ballot closure for no good verifiable reason, so NO BID yet again! Interesting that when one of the BID proposer steering group members was asked what happened to the BID he replied “we knew it wasn’t going our way”.
The following is a series of articles are from the hard fought NO campaign for the 2020 ballot, which basically beat the Council and BID proposers into submission. You can see how the campaign developed and many strong evidence based NO arguments were put across, so please read with interest and feel free to copy / use any article tailored for your own NO BID campaign.
The following images are from the 8 page vote NO campaign booklet produced for the ballot. Download a copy here.
BID’s don’t like to admit it, but fact is they do save Council’s money by absolving them of responsibility for their BID area. But what we also find appalling is the deception and mistruths being told yet again by Taunton BID. They are falsely giving the impression that the town centre won't risk losing any SWT Council funding and services, but this is clearly something they are not able to promise, and are deceptively trying to say otherwise.
Read MoreSWT decided to make Taunton BID a restricted and confidential agenda item for their SWT Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday 18th December 2019. This means that the Council Officers report on Taunton BID has not been made public in advance as normal, and on the evening Councillors voted to exclude the press and public from their debate on Taunton BID. This is a highly unusual move and considering the Council (TDBC) publicly acknowledged that the last Taunton BID company lacked transparency, the very same Council is displaying the same trait itself with unprecedented secrecy for no good reason. Read the concerns we expressed to the Leader of the Council in this letter to her.
Read MoreEven councils need to pause and consider the implications of having a BID in one of their towns, be absolutely sure it’s the best suited place management scheme, and have considered potential downsides and risks of BID for themselves. For a council, a BID ‘in their own back yard’ may not be as good as it first seems, particularly for a new LibDem administration inheriting a BID proposal they may not yet have fully examined, so as to ensure it doesn’t conflict with their values, strategy and plans for Taunton meeting their manifesto pledge of developing ‘vibrant and economically secure Town Centres’.
Read MoreBID’s are partnerships between local authorities and local businesses, with local authorities having core roles and responsibilities in the development and management of BID’s. Considering local authorities play such a key role in enabling BID’s, we wonder why the Taunton BID proposers are so careful not to highlight this fact. It’s actually hard to find an example of a local authority in the UK that has publicly declared an objection to voting a BID scheme in, I wonder why? It’s easy, it’s because they know they are onto a good thing!
Read MoreCouncil's should abstain from voting so it truly becomes a decision by the BID businesses we are being told the BID is for and will decide. How would you feel if Taunton BID was voted in by such a slim majority that it was the council votes that swung it, and not really the businesses that have been told by the BID proposers that it’s they who will decide?
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