Memorandum by the Association of Town
Centre Management (ATCM) and UKBIDs (SBR 23)
This submission is made by the Association of
Town Centre Management (ATCM) and UKBIDs. With 550 members, ATCM
is Europe's largest membership organisation dedicated to promoting
the vitality and viability of town and city centres.
Around 400 of our members are practitioners
working in towns and cities across the country to manage, develop
and market their centres, usually through a partnership between
the public and private sectors. Our other members are stakeholders
in town and city centres, including major landowners, retailers,
government agencies, consultants and suppliers of goods and services.
Since the mid-1990s, ATCM has been at the forefront
of the campaign to introduce Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)
into the United Kingdom. We undertook research into their operation
elsewhere in the world, organised study tours to North America
and sought to introduce the concept to Government. From 2002 to
2005 we led the National BIDs Pilot Project, working with DCLG
(as ODPM) to ensure that the Regulations and Guidance for BIDs
were as effective as possible and enabled the BID concept to move
forward. We actively engaged many of those businesses who would
subsequently be involved in BIDs in this Pilot Process and we
worked with 22 towns and cities in England and Wales to bring
forward BID proposals.
Today we run the National BIDs Advisory Service
(UKBIDs) and continue to promote the development of BIDs in the
UK through initiatives such as the current East Midlands BIDs
Academy we are running with EMDA. Two-thirds of BIDs that have
been voted through are ATCM members, and we actively work with
them to exchange experience, promote good practice and identify
key lessons for those who are developing BIDs elsewhere.
Our own experience and the active involvement
of our members across the country in the development, management
and marketing of town and city centres, in nearly all cases through
a real commitment from businesses (whether formally through a
BID or on a voluntary basis), gives us, we believe, an informed
and relevant insight into Sir Michael Lyons' proposals to introduce
a Supplementary Business Rate.
ATCM COMMENT
In many parts of the country there is a need
for investment in major infrastructure that would bring long term
economic and social benefit. The success of BIDs in the UK has
demonstrated that businesses will agree to pay an additional levy
associated with their business rate to fund shared projects. The
proposal in the Lyons report to introduce a Supplementary Business
Rate therefore appears logical. However, it is our view that the
proposals as made will destroy the basic concept of trust that
is behind the success of BIDs to date and will almost certainly
end BIDs in this country just as they are beginning to demonstrate
real success.
Although the Lyons report states that the supplement
should be local, additional, transparent and agreed with the local
community, [17]we
believe that the proposals as set out in the report fail in at
least two, if not three, of these areas.
1. Although a case can be made that many
businesses in London may benefit from a development such as Crossrail
and therefore be prepared to fund it, and there are no doubt some
other examples elsewhere in the country, on the whole local does
not mean, and cannot mean, across a local authority area. BIDs
have demonstrated, both in this country and in North America,
that businesses who agree to pay an additional levy do so to see
an improvement or initiative directly connected to their immediate
environment. It is this that changes a BID contribution from a
tax to an investment for a business. BIDs are focused in very
small geographic areas and success can be seen by the contributors
every day—the proposed supplementary business rate will
not offer that.
2. The greatest positive that has emerged
from BIDs is the level of engagement with the business community
in identifying what any levy would do and how it should be quantified.
There is real business ownership and involvement and where this
has not been done properly, the BID has been voted down. A successful
ballot provides clear evidence that businesses want to invest
in the BID and support what is being done. Lyons' proposals for
"local business community having a strong voice in the final
decision ..." [18]appear
to be a substantial backtrack from the current system. His rejection
of a voting approval[19]
will, we believe, undermine the credibility with the business
community that BIDs have introduced.
3. The administration of the proposed supplementary
business rate by the local authority and its potential introduction
merely through a consultation process also threatens the transparency
of the system. BIDs have to produce clear business plans, annual
reports and face a re-ballot. Transparency is therefore an inherent
characteristic of the BID process. We do not believe that the
proposed system has anything like this level of transparency.
ATCM CONCLUSION
A great deal of work has been done to introduce
BIDs into the UK. BIDs legislation has achieved a system that
is truly local, additional, transparent and owned by businesses.
As presently proposed we believe that the supplementary business
rate, though it could be seen as an extension of BIDs, fails its
key tests and will instead be seen as partial relocalisation of
business rates.
We have the additional concern that the proposed
introduction of a new Supplementary Business Rate will fundamentally
undermine the existing BID structure. Securing the support of
a business for a BID, which does take time but brings a real sense
of ownership in many cases, will be made almost impossible if
a local authority has the power to impose a Supplementary Business
Rate at some time during the period of the BID—effectively
giving the business two levies to pay. This concern is evident
from feedback we are already receiving from those of our members
now seeking to develop BIDs that will launch in the coming years.
BIDs are now succeeding, and we have indeed
seen the first successful renewal ballot in the Heart of London.
Others are getting very positive interim assessments. They do
take time to establish and a great deal of contact and involvement
with businesses is required in this time in order to secure support,
but we believe this is a much more effective way of ensuring long
term commitment from businesses.
17 Lyons Inquiry into Local Government-Final Report,
page 296, paragraph 8.45. Back
18
Ibid. Back
19
Ibid, page 300, paragraph 8.55. Back
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