There are many negative aspects and risks associated with establishing and operating a Business Improvement District (BID), and the businesses of Peterborough need to decide if a BID is right for the town. The BID proposers will only ever highlight what they see as the positives of establishing a BID, that’s understandable as they would like a YES mandate, but at the same time businesses need to be aware of and ensure they have considered all the associated downside and potential risks they could be voting for.

So in the interests of true voting democracy to help Peterborough businesses build their own balanced views, the primary aim of this webpage is to provide information on some of the objections to, negative aspects and risks associated with the Peterborough BID proposal, with scrutiny of the BID business plan when it is eventually published.

When the BID proposal goes to ballot this October 2021, the Peterborough business community needs to be fully informed and should strive for the highest possible voter turnout, so that the result is truly representative of the businesses. But to achieve this it is only fair that both sides of the argument are respectfully made, so that each voting business can make their own fully informed decision based on all the available information.

Hopefully you’ll find this webpage informative, it also includes personal opinions, and every effort has also been made to make the information as factual and accurate as possible, but should you spot any factual inaccuracies please do let us know.

P.S. If you are a Peterborough BID NO voter feel free to contact us in confidence to ask questions or share your views with us.

Peterborough City Council decided they want a BID for the City, and if you want to see just how hard a Council wants to push the BID in and even set the agenda for the businesses, read their report here. The following are a few lines from the Council report, quite shocking really.

Council wished to see greater investment in the City Centre so that residents and visitors could have a vibrant, exciting, clean and safe City Centre everyone could be proud of and enjoy. The development of a successful Business Improvement District (BID) in Peterborough City Centre would address this by providing the additional investment required.

 

Whilst under Local Authority control, there is little incentive for City Centre Businesses to invest and pay for City Centre Management services regardless of how much they appreciate or benefit from them.

 

The most efficient operating model to meet City Council needs and the requirements of a BID Company could be by operating City Centre Management Services through Peterborough Limited with a BIDs Company and the Council commissioning it to carry out work on their behalf, thus sharing the cost between BIDs Company and Council.

 

The BID Steering Group could also place a cap on the maximum that any one single business would need to contribute to the BID. This could apply both in the case of high rateable value of property owned such as Waitrose, or against a number of business premises owned by the same business situated within the BID area such as a Council.