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.
“We were attracted by the idea that BIDs should be replaced with community improvement districts.” House of Commons housing, communities and local government committee, 2019. So the question to ask ourselves Taunton, is do we really want to bring in an unpopular tax that is not fit for purpose and behind the times for current (and future) thinking for how town centres and high streets can thrive going forwards?
Read MoreThe Council already have plans to revitalise and regenerate Taunton town centre. So lets’ get behind the Council and their brilliant plans for transformative change in that will lead to real success and prosperity for Taunton. Businesses paying a private stealth tax for “window dressing” isn’t going to “cut it”.
Read MoreConsidering the problems of the last failed Taunton BID, it doesn’t instil much confidence in the people we would be voting for to do another BID, if they haven’t properly reflected on the mistakes made last time and learnt lessons, in an attempt to mitigate risks of failure and reassure us it won’t happen again.
Read MoreThe last Taunton BID proposal didn’t fail because it the area was too big like Taunton BID are saying, the real reason has more to do more with still not winning back business confidence after losing it through the prior failed BID. Are Taunton BID again failing to be open and transparent about learning from lessons from the past?
Read MoreBID’s are private limited companies that can do what they want with a lack of financial transparency and accountability, and there are many examples of this throughout the UK including Taunton’s last failed BID 2007-12. The intention of BID was for local businesses to improve their situation together, not for a small minority to make unilateral decisions affecting hundreds of others, without any true accountability for their actions as this article demonstrates.
Read MoreDo you really want to give the Taunton BID company carte blanche power to gamble your money on the stock market as they feel fit? That’s exactly what the articles of association of other BID companies provide them the power to do without referring to levy payers, and it’s most likely any Taunton BID company would also have this written into their articles of association unless you object.
Read MoreA BID is a private tax club, and if you don’t pay, you don’t get a say! BID proposers will say that all businesses within their area are important to them to develop the district, but fact is it’s a private paid for tax club, that not all businesses in a BID area are automatically invited into.
Read MoreUnfortunately BID’s divide opinion and create resentment amongst voters quite easily (just as we have seen with the Brexit referendum), and it’s a shame they are divisive in this way when BID’s are meant to bring the business community together.
Read MoreSloppy research? There appear many mistakes where number of voting properties and cumulative RV figures are concerned. This is important because it’s a matter of trust, in addition to the feasibility study providing the fundamental basis for the current proposal and business plan being developed by Taunton BID during the consultation phase.
Read MoreIs this incompetent research by the BID Consultants or an attempt to hide the true number of council properties with votes? Either way our research shows fundamental flaws to the assumptions in the BID proposal, and can we trust everything Taunton BID are saying?
Read MoreYet more research mistakes? The Bridge Street voting property count and cumulative RV, are in reality both much lower than they are stated in the feasibility study. This is important because it’s a matter of trust, in addition to the study providing the fundamental basis for the current proposal and business plan being developed during the consultation phase.
Read MoreHere’s a good explainer of what a BID really is, with some home truths that BID proposers don't like to share!
Read MoreShare your concerns about Taunton BID with us here.
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