Can Taunton BID really promise us we won’t lose council services in the BID area? Doesn’t look like it.
We are being told that the BID will only to provide services in addition to those we already receive from the public authorities i.e. councils and the police etc, and that we don’t risk losing any because baseline agreements stating what public services should continue are put in place. But as our article “Taunton BID doesn’t like to say it’s a council partnership – but that’s exactly what it is” explores along with this article, in reality we need to “take this with a big pinch of salt”.
Referring to the failed 2007-12 BID in Taunton, when discussing police and council services Taunton BID have already admitted that it was “difficult to prove added value when the perception (and sometimes the reality) was that basic services were lacking.” The “reality” of the situation really is a stark admission.
Statistics from British BIDs for public authorities / council’s adhering to baseline statements are also frightening, and demonstrate that the situation is getting worse for BIDs across the UK. Here are the headline statistics from the 2018 national BID survey about baseline statements:
86.79% of BIDs had baseline statements, but surprisingly 13.21% did not (despite being a requirement in the 2004 BID regulations).
38.68% felt baseline statements were not being adhered to.
22.64% felt that there was a moderate adherence to baseline statements.
44.34% said baseline statements were being adhered to.
The table below shows that for 2017 to 2018 the situation getting markedly worse.
Source: National BIDs survey 2018.
In addition:
In the last two years, 7.55% of BIDs have already taken on transferred services.
18.8% confirmed they were considering some type of service transfer.
Most of the responses involved taking responsibility for some elements of Christmas lights, hanging baskets, street cleaning, graffiti removal, public toilets, marketing and events. Note this looks remarkably similar to what Taunton BID are proposing we spend our money on!
Clearly the BID did not deliver on it’s promises last time, including the provision of Council baseline agreements and Christmas lights! So how on earth can we believe what they’re saying again?
So as you can see, unless baseline agreements are made legally binding, then clearly they are not worth the paper they are written on! Once a BID gets going there’s absolutely nothing stopping the council pulling back on providing some basic services and/or transferring them to the BID, let alone being encouraged to provide better services. The statistics above show us this is happening in greater numbers for BIDs all across the country and Taunton risk’s exactly the same. BIDs really are the start of a slippery slope to lose and take on council services we already pay our rates for!
Recommendation for Taunton BID (first made in the summer of 2019):
Given that the BID Consultant has already stated the following about baseline agreements in the feasibility study:
“In the best case scenario public agencies will sign a binding legal agreement to keep their service levels set for the lifetime of the BID”.
In an attempt to promise and re-assure Taunton BID businesses that they won’t lose any public services in the BID area, we recommend that Taunton BID only put in place legally binding agreements with the public agencies.
This recommendation only mitigates some risk and still incentivises the council not to do more, so the best solution of course is not to bring a BID in!
Click on image to view article. This BID has bought it's Council a new street cleaning machine to use! That council must be loving it's BID, clearly it's reaping the benefits, but surely the Council should be footing the bill if it's equipment isn't upto the job?
Here are more of our business plan response articles for you to read.
Q&A reply with Taunton BID 12th September 2019, where they confirmed they will be requesting legally binding baseline agreements. We predict now that like most other BID’s, they won’t get legally binding baseline agreements for all discretionary services provided by public authorities to Taunton town centre.
