We risk losing SWT Council services and BID are deceiving voters about this.
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. BID’s are recognised Place Management schemes that Councils love because they secure private funding for a BID area, and mark the start of a slippery slope for the provision (come privatisation) of discretionary services previously provided by Councils into their BID areas. We saw this last time with Taunton’s failed BID 2007-12, and remember that SWT Council have funded the BID YES campaign to the tune of £45,000, so you have to ask why on earth they would even contemplate doing that if there was nothing in it for them?
So how are Taunton BID deceiving voters?
Taunton BID are choosing their words very carefully when trying to reassure voters that all BID levy funds will only be used for projects in addition to Council services, but really they know it’s something they can’t promise. Take a look at the following 2 published statements and note the word we’ve highlighted in yellow:
Paragraph 3 on page 5 of the Taunton BID proposal.
The ‘killer’ deceptive word Taunton BID are using is ‘statutory’. This is important when you realise that statutory services only really means services such as street lighting, cleaning to a minimal level, highways and environmental health etc. What statutory services do NOT include are all the discretionary services SWT Council provides / funds for Taunton town centre such as events, marketing, extra cleaning, florals, Christmas festival & lights etc. Interesting how they are all projects BID wants to do eh? Once you realise what statutory services really means, it’s easy to see how the statements put out by Taunton BID really are misleading, simply deceptive in order to provide a false sense of security about not risk losing any council services.
But this is just one part of TAUNTON BID’S council services deception, the other is in relation to “baseline agreements”.
BID's try to demonstrate that they can protect all statutory and discretionary Council services by saying they will have what are called ‘baseline agreements’ in place. These baseline agreements outline what services are provided by public authorities into a BID area, which do include discretionary services such as events, marketing and Christmas lights etc, and Taunton BID’s statement of baselines can be viewed HERE.
Page 25 of Taunton BID proposal (note use of the word ‘statutory’ again).
Page 30 of Taunton BID proposal.
In the same way that Taunton BIDs’ use of the word ‘statutory’ is deceptive, so is them saying all Council services will be protected by baseline agreements, it’s simply NOT a true statement. Here’s why, with proof:
Immediately it’s easy to see that one is effectively creating “maximum service level agreements”. Where’s the incentive for SWT Council to provide / fund more services for the town centre and do better than now? There is none, and fact is services provided will only go one way, that’s down over time with a BID in place.
These agreements are NOT legally binding, so if the Council decides to renege on any part of them they can do at any stage with no recourse. Notice there’s already an annual review mentioned, so each year the Council can more ‘formally’ start pulling away town centre discretionary services. The following quote is what’s written in the Taunton BID feasibility study, clearly they know the Council don’t need to abide to them, so why are they even pretending to voters that these baseline agreements will protect Council services? “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 reality most BIDs have baseline agreements that are not binding on the public agency in terms of their ability to change them.” At the SWT Council Executive meeting in December 2019 we asked the Council if they would provide legally binding baseline agreements, and guess what, they avoided answering the question so they are clearly not interested in guaranteeing or reassuring BID businesses about this matter!
Referring to the failed 2007-12 BID in Taunton, when discussing public authority 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 about how ultimately the line blurs between what services are provided by the BID and public authorities.
Finally, the national BID statistics clearly demonstrate that baseline agreements are simply not worth the paper they are written on to protect against losing council services; the British BID's survey 2019 reported that only 27% of BID's felt Council Baseline Agreements were being adhered to! In addition, 18% of BIDs confirmed they were considering some type of formal service transfer. British BIDs own literature also describes baseline agreements as nothing more than “statements of intent”.
Final note
From the various articles we have published, all the evidence points to a District Council doing what it can to help BID in, and the BID company lining itself up to absolve responsibility for Taunton town centre from the Council. Unfortunately, many voters may not appreciate just how much this BID risks being ‘pushed in’ by the Public Authorities, and the BID then taking on or paying for discretionary services currently provided by SWT Council.
But what we find even more appalling is the deception and mistruths being told yet again by Taunton BID; they are falsely giving you 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. As we have shown, BID can only promise statutory council services will be protected, but BID can do nothing to protect discretionary services provided by the Councils. Even the ‘magical’ baseline agreements BID has are deceptive, because they are not legally binding, meaning SWT Council can change them at will and there’s nothing the BID can do about it. Voting in a BID really is the start of a slippery slope to lose and take on Council services we already pay our rates for!
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?
Taunton’s failed BID 2007-12 ended up paying for town centre services the Council previously paid for, and never produced any baseline agreements. Even if they had, they wouldn’t have been worth the paper they were written on anyway!
It's already easy to see just how entwined Taunton BID and SWT Council are, they even share the same stock images and branding already. Voting in a BID is inviting businesses to lead on and pay for the place marketing of Taunton instead of the Council!