THE PLAN

aproposal to renew

and extend the

Brighton Business

Improvement

District (BID)

THE VISION

To create a thriving, safe, clean andvibrant city centre that residentsand visitors want to come back to

time and time again.

Message from the Chair

The Business Improvement District Board is well

aware that Christmas 2010 was not a great time

for retailers. But difficult economic times won’t last

forever and Brighton must continue to position

itself to take advantage of the upturn when it

comes and ensure that it can still compete. And

competition will be fierce, not only with

surrounding towns and out-of-town centres, but

also with international shopping malls in other

easy-to-reach European cities and the global

shopping mall that the internet has become.

We have to renew the BID now to ensure that it

can continue to deliver the additional services that

the public has come to expect.The opportunity is

unlikely to be repeated in the foreseeable future.

Increasingly visitors and shoppers demand so

much more from city centres. In Brighton the

opportunity to purchase goods from some of the

most diverse and original shops in the country has

to be complemented with the highest standards

of safety and cleanliness and experiences that add

real value to their visit. Only the BID can deliver

this scenario.

The new BID will continue to provide the

Christmas experience that our customers expect

and it will make it even better. It will also fill the

gap that exists during the summer months when

there is no visible celebration of the city’s

abundant artistic and cultural offer.The new

BID will continue to make our customers feel

welcome and safe but on a larger scale than

at present.

At the same time the BID Board knows that, for

many smaller retailers, any additional expenditure

is a burden and consequently the new BID

offers a bulk buying procurement service to help

them save money on a variety of business

overheads that could pay for the levy and more.

Although this may not benefit large multiples

directly (because they already have the purchasing

power to get the best deals) it still offers value to

them because the reputation of the city as a

shopping destination relies heavily on our

abundance of small independent retailers.

Everything the BID offers is designed to benefit

our customers. Contributing to the BID amply

demonstrates that your business is prepared to

go the extra mile to give them the experience

they deserve; to give something back.

I would urge every business in the proposed BID

area to carefully consider the investment that the

new BID offers and vote “yes” in the forthcoming

referendum. A “no” vote means that all existing

services will cease in July.

Ross Czolak - Chair, Prime Brighton.

WELCOME

5

Executive summary

In July 2006 Brighton’s Business Improvement District

(BID) was established when businesses in the “Old

Town” of Brighton city centre voted to create a BID

and pay a small annual levy to fund projects designed

to help improve the trading environment and attract

more shoppers and visitors to the area.

Over the last five years the BID has provided over

£1m of services to the city centre that are above

and beyond the service levels currently provided by

Brighton & Hove City Council and Sussex Police.

The BID delivered the city’s first comprehensive display

of Christmas lights. It also delivered on-street security

patrols operating for 364 days of the year and

marketing, promotions and events.These projects have

ensured that the BID area is now not only well and

truly on the map for shoppers and visitors, but safer

and more attractive too.

With tough times ahead for the economy when every

town will be competing for the retail £, it’s time to

build on the BID’s success to make sure that Brighton

continues to thrive, attract more customers and

maintain its position as a regional shopping centre.

In June 2011 Brighton’s current BID expires and all

services will cease unless it is renewed and expanded.

It is up to businesses to decide collectively if they wish

to continue the BID. This will be done via a

democratic vote in April.We are asking you to vote

‘yes’ to ensure a bright future by renewing the BID for

a 5-year term, from 1 July 2011 to 30th June 2016.

The aims are simple:

• Entice more customers into Brighton city centre

by making it safer, cleaner and more vibrant

• Position Brighton city centre for continued growth

as a regional shopping destination

• Help businesses to make significant savings on their

overheads that will contribute towards paying the

BID levy and their general profitability

• Give business in the BID area a voice to lobby the

local authority, police and central government

where appropriate on local issues and play a full

part in the emerging Localism agenda.

The investment:

An annual levy for a period of 5 years equivalent

to 1% of non-domestic rateable value or £400

(whichever is the greater) will be charged on all

qualifying hereditaments listed in the 2010

Non-Domestic Rating List that are in the proposed

BID area (see map on page 18 and Understanding

the Proposals on page 21). Registered charities, and

those businesses that have a rateable value of £5,000

or less, will benefit from a discount of 95% on the

above rate. The BID levy will not increase during

the five year term. The BID will be supplemented by

a voluntary contribution from one of the city’s largest

property owners and it will also be seeking other

voluntary contributions, sponsorship support from

other businesses, revenue raising projects and

exploring opportunities for EU funding.

Every penny of the levy collected will be used to

deliver the projects in this business plan.This is in

contrast to Uniform Business Rates (UBR) where

typically less than 10% of your contribution is

returned from central government for investment in

Brighton & Hove and businesses have little or no say

in how the money is actually spent.

The ballot:

Brighton BID Ltd is the BID proposer. All qualifying

non-domestic rate paying businesses within the

proposed BID area will be eligible to vote on this

proposal including those eligible for a discount. Ballot

papers will be posted before 31st March, with the

final ballot date being 28th April 2011. Given a

majority vote both by number and rateable value of

those voting, the BID will commence on 1 July 2011,

for a five year period.

A majority ‘NO’ vote will STOP all existing BID

activities from 30th June 2011 which means:

• A lost opportunity to invest up to £1.75mmillion in the BID area over the next five years

• No on-street BID security patrols

• No free access to the services of theBusiness Crime Reduction Partnership

• No BID Christmas lights or promotions

• No dressing the city for summer

• No savings on business overheads via theprocurement service

• No BID commercial waste recycling service

• No BID personal shopper service

• No realistic prospect of a BID beingre-established in the foreseeable future

“Five years ago, the levels of

anti-social behaviour, street

drinking, illegal street trading

and begging were well on the

way to making the area an

unattractive place to visit.

The introduction of the security

patrols has brought these

activities under control to

create a much safer

environment for shoppers

and visitors. I support the

BID renewal.”

David Houldey,Owner, Friends for Leather.

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Enhanced Security

A successful on-street security team has been a

consistent presence in the BID area for seven days

a week for the last five years.

They have been called to assist over 60% of individual

BID businesses with security issues, recovered

thousands of pounds of stolen goods, discouraged

and challenged anti-social behaviour, vandalism, illegal

street trading, graffiti, begging and a variety of other

activities that constitute a nuisance to businesses

and customers.

The security team has worked closely with the city’s

award winning Business Crime Reduction Partnership

(BCRP) providing intelligence reports on criminal

activities which have been logged and held on a

sophisticated incident database. This is then used to

inform tactical decisions by Sussex Police and

formulate evidence for Anti Social Behaviour Orders

(ASBOs) and the targeting of prolific offenders.

But the personnel do not just offer a security service;

trained in first aid and emergency procedures the

BID patrol officers have also provided an information

service acting as roving ambassadors offering advice

and assistance to visitors.They are a reassuring,

uniformed presence within the city centre; just as

ready to help businesses directly as to field the

general public’s questions.With a consummate

knowledge of the BID area they can direct visitors to

individual shops and attractions and often they can

even tell them when they open and close!

Achievements of the existing BID

Christmas Lights and Promotions

Christmas in Brighton was an altogether dark affair

until the Business Improvement District was

established, because Brighton – a regional shopping

centre - had almost no lights displays to speak of.

Indeed, the year before the BID was established

Brighton was voted the worst town in the UK in a

poll on national radio for the poverty of it lights.

Over the lifetime of the BID, over £335,000 has been

invested to create striking displays in the BID area –

the first large-scale, coordinated displays the city has

ever seen.

Eye-catching features, exciting switch on events and

Christmas promotions have all helped to attract

shoppers to the BID area during the crucial high

spend period.

In the last survey of the public, 60% of shoppers

surveyed over the Christmas period thought the

Christmas lights were “excellent” or “good” and it

is hardly surprising that 78% of businesses in the

existing BID area and 75% outside it consider lights

to be important.

“As manager of Snoopers Paradise, onbehalf of my staff and stallholders (80of them) we very much support therenewal of the BID.Christmas lightsare essential to any retail area and wehave come to rely on the peace ofmind the BID security patrols bring.”

Nick Drinkwater, Snooper’s Paradise

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ClockTower. Christmas 2010

All this has helped the BID area to become a safer

place to work and visit.

• BID patrols have recovered thousands of pounds of

stolen goods including a single piece of jewellery

valued at £5,000.

• Over 1,400 reports of criminal activity in the BID

area have been generated by the security patrols.

• 230 of the 384 businesses in the BID area have

received the assistance of the patrols.

Marketing

Investment in marketing and PR has raised the profile

of the BID area and provided the opportunity to

showcase the distinctive identities of The Lanes and

the North Laine linked by North Street.

The BID has run two major events each year ; the

Christmas lights switch-on and the summer fashion

show and BID levy payers have been invited to

take part in almost 150 additional promotional

opportunities including, Easter promotions,

Gok’s Fashion Fix, Brighton Festival Fringe,

The Easter Festival of Shopping, competitions

and other shopping events.

PR activities have generated media coverage in

publications such asThe Guardian,Vogue, Elle,

Glamour, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Sussex Life,

BrightonVisitor andThe Argus and radio and

television coverage has included exposure on French

television, BBC 2, Meridian, Heart, Juice and BBC

Radio 4; all helping to establish the Business

Improvement District area as a must-see destination.

The website Uniquebrighton.com profiles over 380

traders making it easy for visitors to browse through

the different types of specialist shops, bars and

restaurants on offer to them in the area. Visitors

can also be the first to find out about special offers,

discounts and events taking place.

• The BID has generated, on average, 6 stories a

month in local and national media over the last

four years

• The last vacancy rate survey in the BID area

registered a 3.7% vacancy against a city centre

figure of 7.9% and a national benchmark of 12.5%

AddedValue

In addition to the £844,000 invested in the BID

area via the Christmas lights, security and marketing

projects, the BID has been able to secure cash

contributions of £110,000 and in-kind contributions

of £65,000 and establish additional services which

benefit the BID area.

The BID delivery service encourages customers to

leave their cars at home and shop in the BID area by

taking the hassle out of the shopping experience. For

a single flat fee, customers can have goods purchased

from any shop (or indeed several shops) in the BID

area delivered to their home at a time to suit them,

leaving them free of awkward packages and carrier

bags to enjoy the many bars, restaurants and cafes on

offer without the fear of ticking parking meters.

The BID’s personal shopper service offers customers

a decadent shopping experience whilst promoting

the diverse range of shops in the BID area. The

personal shopper will talk to customers to find out

what they like, what they don't like and what they

need to buy and will then take on the job of sourcing

outfits and accessories from shops only within the

BID area.

• Over the last two years, the personal shopper

service has brought over 60 clients into the BID

area, spending on average £600 each.

“For the security patrols alone the

BID has been worth every penny,

plus we get all the other services as

well including great Christmas

lights and events. Terrific value

for money!”

StuartWilkie,Owner,Charlie Barley

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BID Fashion Show.September 2010

Ensuring a bright future for Brighton city

centre – Proposals in the new BID

The Brighton BID has helped to deliver many changes

over the last five years; elevating the profile of the

area and making it a safer place for shoppers and

visitors. Many of the improvements have become

familiar features and it is difficult to remember what

the area used to be like before the introduction of

additional security and Christmas lights.

The current uncertain economic climate and

government spending cuts will undoubtedly make

trading conditions difficult in 2011. It is, therefore, vital

that the BID area builds on the successes of the last

five years in order to retain and enhance its profile

and continue to attract customers to the area.

A period of extensive consultation, which included

surveying 1,300 businesses (many more than once)

and over 800 face-to-face visits to businesses, has

identified priorities for the future and has shown that

many businesses understand the need for continuous

investment in the area.

Renewing the BID and extending its boundaries

offers an unrivalled opportunity to deliver up to

£1.75 million of investment directly into the BID area

over the next five years. Everything the BID does is

for the benefit of your customers and it is a tangible

demonstration of how much you value them.

None of the costs that have been incurred in

researching and developing this business plan or

renewing the BID will be recovered from the BID

levy.The renewal process has been supported by the

City Council, Brighton & Hove Business Forum (the

city centre management initiative) and

voluntary contributions.

The BID levy will be used to fund projects which

address the priorities that businesses have identified.

These are:

Christmas Promotion

Brighton is ranked 28th in the CACI 2010 retail

rankings and its shortage of department stores and

large floor plate retail units hinders its progress up

the retail destination ladder.While there is some

compensation from its plethora of independents (the

largest number in any town or city in the south east),

it still has to work much harder than places like

Reading, Kingston and Southampton – all comfortably

above Brighton in the CACI listing.

The Christmas trading period is crucial to retail

success, especially for smaller traders. Brighton

has to hold its own against competing towns and

out-of-town shopping centres and the public have

come to expect considerably more than just a

shopping opportunity in return for their custom.

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Christmas lights launch. 2010

Before the current BID was established, Brighton was

voted the worst town in the UK for its poor

Christmas lights display in a poll on a national radio

station! In our consultation, just over 78% of existing

BID levy payers and 75% of businesses outside the

BID area rated Christmas lights as being “important”

or “very important”.

Brighton City Centre is an interconnected patchwork

of discrete areas each with their own special

character and appeal. Every street in the BID area will

get stunning displays designed to accentuate and

enhance their individuality.Working with local primary

schools some of the features will be designed by

schoolchildren who will be able to bring their friends

and family to see their creations decorating the city

centre.The switch-on event will continue to be an

important part of the city’s events calendar.

The value of this project will be £525,000 over the

lifetime of the BID.

Security Patrols

An on-street security team has patrolled the BID

area seven days a week for the last five years offering

invaluable assistance to local businesses and visitors.

These patrols will be doubled and will continue to

work with the Business Crime Reduction Partnership

(BCRP), which will direct their day-to-day activity.

Close working with the BCRP will facilitate the

targeting of known and prolific offenders for

exclusion notices and/or the Coalition Government’s

proposed replacement for Anti-Social Behavior Orders

(ASBOs).The security patrols will also address the

problems of street drinking, homelessness and begging

and liaise with the statutory agencies to ensure that

deterrence is complemented by help for those people

unfortunate enough to find themselves in this situation.

The value of this project will be £695,600 over the

lifetime of the BID

Free access to the services of the Business Crime

Reduction Partnership.

Every BID levy payer will be offered free membership

of the BCRP which will entitle them to access a range

of services that help to combat retail crime and

anti-social behaviour including a password protected

intranet holding Sussex Police intelligence and

photos of named prolific offenders operating in the

city centre.

What does the BCRP do?

• Administers the radio security network with over

420 radio handsets across the city*

• Collates incident reports from members on the

activity of known offenders, in consultation with

Sussex Police

• Operates an exclusion scheme banning persistent

offenders from over 400 premises in the city and

offers evidence for conviction in the Courts.

• Provides free training for business in loss prevention

• Provides access to Sussex Police photos and

intelligence on known offenders on a secure intranet

•Manages the Night time Economy

The value of this project will be capped at £52,000

14*rental of a radio handset will not be funded by the BID.Accessto intelligence is subject to signing a data integrity agreement

Ambassadors and a reassuring presence

Website

The details of all businesses in the BID area will be

featured on a constantly updated website able to

feature special promotions, events and in-store offers.

Although many businesses have their own individual

web presence few areas of the city have a collective

site acting as a directory for interested shoppers.

Value: £13,000 over the lifetime of the BID.

Personal Shopper

The BID will continue to offer its personal shopper to

customers of BID businesses working exclusively in

the BID area.

AVoice

The BID will provide business leadership and position

the organisation as the representative and

authoritative voice on issues relating to the city

centre trading environment.The BID will press for

constant improvement in the public realm and the

maintenance of the highest standards.

“Year after year, crime

continues to fall and the Business

Improvement District has made a

great contribution to cutting crime

and protecting businesses in the

city centre.”

Chief Inspector Simon Nelson, Sussex Police

Real examples of actual savings that this scheme has

realised for businesses in one of the London BIDs are

shown below.

Type of Business Saving %age saving

Restaurant £3,622 34%

Cafe & Shop £2,716 42%

Hair & Beauty Studio £2,623 50%

Butchers £2,581 33%

Stationers £2,387 34%

Mini mart £2,194 16%

Pet Shop £1,428 33%

Estate Agent £1,317 24%

Public House £1,035 10%

Carpet Shop £955 35%

Jewellers Shop £575 24%

Restaurant £573 21%

Taverna £444 14%

Energy- up to53%

Telecoms- up to20%

Testingto comply

with H&S regs

- up to50%

PestControl- up to20%

Insurance- up to10%

FreeLightingSurveyto reducecarbon footprint

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(400 additional members but will be sponsored by the

BCRP and consequently be cost neutral to the BID)

Dressing the City for Summer

Christmas lights literally brighten up dark winter

nights but with 8.5 million visitors coming to Brighton

every year, the summer months are also an important

trading period. Dressing the BID area with flowers,

bunting and street banners will create a new

atmosphere of celebration to accompany the city’s

considerable artistic and cultural offer.

The value of this project will be £128,500 over the

lifetime of the BID*

Street Cleaning

The city council has agreed to immediately prioritise

a comprehensive rolling programme of pavement

cleaning in the new BID area including chewing gum

removal using a £100,000 state-of-the-art cleansing

machine. One of the most common complaints from

businesses and visitors is the state of the pavements

with their messy patchwork of stains and black

chewing gum spots.This will deliver the sparkling

streets that your customers deserve.

The value of this project will be cost neutral to

the BID

Recycling Service

The BID will organise a recycling service for

commercial waste with significant cost savings via bulk

procurement and, with sufficient uptake of the

scheme, a completely free service for paper and

cardboard collection and recycling. Over 88% of

exiting BID levy payers already pay to recycle their

waste and 95% of all businesses surveyed said that it

was an important activity.

The value of this project will depend upon

participation rates but will be cost neutral to the BID

Reducing Business Costs

We know that, in these austere times, businesses face

increasing pressure to reduce costs and many will not

welcome an additional burden of a BID levy.To help

businesses afford the levy, the BID will provide a free

service to all BID levy payers to reduce a wide range

of business overheads working with a national

company specialising in bulk procurement.

BID businesses could make savings amounting to

hundreds of pounds a year which could more than

pay for the BID levy.The company we have

contracted already works with dozens of other BIDs

in the UK and has negotiated significant reductions on

energy, telecoms, insurance and other utilities.

Major multiples and large chain stores already have

the muscle to procure reduced prices on utilities

and telecoms etc, but for the smaller chains and

independents the BID will deliver real cost savings by

exercising the bulk purchasing power of the Brighton

BID combined with dozens of others BIDs across

the UK.

*because this is largely a summer project and the new BID startsin July, expenditure in the first year will be limited to £8,500.

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BID Budget 2011-2016

Salary and on-costs to employ a BID Manager

£41,620 p.a. (average including on-costs)

• Administrative support /facilities:

• Office accommodation

• Book-keeping & payroll

• Line management & HR

• Photocopying and printing costs

• Postage and stationery

• IT provision and maintenance

•Telephones

•Travel and subsistence

• Administration of the BID Company

TOTAL £16,000 p.a.

Management

The BID will employ a dedicated BID manager (by a

process of open recruitment) and additional staff on

a part-time basis to do the book-keeping and

accounts, pay the bills, manage the payroll and

administer the Company and liaise with the council

and police. In addition, the Business Crime

Manager from the city’s award winning Business

Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) will coordinate

the security patrols and collate their intelligence

gathering.All of the above, together with office

accommodation,

equipment and

supplies will cost

£57,620 p.a.

(average) See page

19 for a breakdown

of this figure.

18

• Bond Street

• Gardner Street

• Kensington Gardens

• Church Street (number 4)

• Bond Street Cottages (number 1)

• North Road (numbers 23-25, 28, 26-27,79-80, 81 and 82)

• North Street

• Prince Albert Street (number 24)

• Union Street (number 6 and Font & Firkin)

• Air Street (number 1)

• North Street Quadrant

• Meeting House Lane

• Market Street

• Brighton Place

• East Street• Western Road between the junctions

with North Street and Montpelier Road(but not Churchill Sq)

• Preston Street

The streets included in the BID area and categories of business are shown below. New streets are in italics:

“I would like to put in writing that

the service I received from your

security guys this morning was

superb, very friendly, interested

& concerned by my plight.

I know it is their job to do this but I

just wanted to put a positive into

writing & say thanks.”

Email sent to the BID from Simon Bridger.Immediate Clothing

W E S T E R N R O A D

M E E T I N GH O U S E L A N E

M A R K E T S T

B R I G H T O NP L A C E

N O R T HL A I N E

T H EL A N E S

PRESTO

NSTREET

BOND

STGARDNERST

KENSINGTON

GDNS

N O R T H S T R E E T

Provisional Budget For Renewed Bid

year1 year2 year3 year4 year5 total %age

Revenue £ £ £ £ £ £

invoiced 342,523 342,523 342,523 342,523 342,523 1,712,615sponsorship 17,500 17,500 20,000 25,000 25,000 105,000bad debt -20,551 -13,701 -13,701 -13,701 -13,701 -75,355 -4.4%

total 360,023 360,023 362,523 367,523 367,523 1,817,615

Expenditure

lights 105,000 105,000 105,000 105,000 105,000 525,000 30.7%security 133,500 133,500 139,000 144,800 144,800 695,600 40.6%dressing the town 8,500 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 128,500 7.5%manager 40,000 40,800 41,600 42,400 43,300 208,100 12.2%accom, back office, IT, equipment, telecoms, accounts 16,000 16,000 16,000 16,000 16,000 80,000 4.7%communication with levy payers 4,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 18,500 1.1%insurance 1,750 1,775 1,800 1,825 1,850 9,000 0.5%web 2,500 2,550 2,600 2,650 2,700 13,000 0.8%recruitment/professional fees/accountancy 3,500 1,900 1,900 1,900 1,900 11,100 0.6%levy collection 16,000 14,000 12,000 11,000 11,000 64,000 3.7%bank charges 200 210 220 230 240 1,100 0.1%total 331,450 349,235 353,620 359,305 360,290 1,753,900balance/contigency 28,573 10,788 8,903 8,218 7,233 63,715 3.72%

S E A F R O N T

EAST

ST

Planning use A1: Shops

Planning Use A2: Banks, building

societies, estate agents etc

Planning Use A3: Restaurants, cafes etc

Planning UseA4: Pubs,wine bars, etc

Planning Use A5:Take-aways etc

Sui generis Use: Hereditaments

in a class of their own e.g. casinos

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Understanding the Proposals

What you need to know:

The BID

A BID is a flexible funding mechanism to improve and

manage a clearly defined commercial area. It is based

on the principle of an additional levy on all defined

ratepayers following a majority vote. Once the vote is

successful, the levy becomes mandatory on all

defined ratepayers and is a statutory debt.

The BID ballot

The person(s), registered company, or organisation that

is responsible for the payment of non-domestic rates

of a rating hereditament* within the BID area at the

date of the Notice of Ballot, or their appointed proxy,

is entitled to vote in a secret ballot.The rules for

administering a BID ballot can be found in the Business

Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004.

Each person or organisation entitled to vote in the

BID ballot shall have one vote in respect of one or

more of each hereditament in the geographical area

of the BID on which non-domestic rates are payable.

Each individual hereditament has only one vote

regardless of its size.

The ballot will have to meet two tests:

1. A simple majority (above 50%) of those voting

must vote in favour;

2. Those voting in favour must represent a majority

of the aggregate rateable value of the

hereditaments voting.

The ballot will be administered by the independent

Electoral Reform Services (ERS) and the ballot

papers will be forwarded to those ratepayers eligible

to vote on or about 28th March 2011 and must be

returned by 5pm on 28th April 2011.

The BID Levy

The BID levy for any new occupiers, hereditament

splits or mergers in the BID area, will be calculated

based on the 2010 Local Non-Domestic Rating List

(as at date brought into list).The BID levy will not be

adjusted to reflect any changes to the rateable value

during 5 years of the BID. In addition any “Taken out

of Rating” cases will be deleted from the effective

date as advised by theValuation Office Agency to

the City Council’s Non-Domestic Rates section. In

addition, there will be no reduction, exemption,

relief (save for registered charities and those with a

rateable value of less than £5,000) or part-year

refunds on the BID levy. Tenants vacating a premises

mid-year should seek recompense from the incoming

tenant as part of the assignment of their lease.

To ensure certainty for BID levy payers, the levy will

not be increased to account for annual inflation and

will remain constant for the five year duration of

the BID.

The BID levy will apply to all persons or organisations

liable to pay non-domestic rates in relation to any

property located wholly or partly within the BID Area

the whole or any part of which property falls into the

following planning use categories,A1,A2,A3,A4,A5

and sui generis uses (see map page for definitions).*a rateable unit of property

The following types of businesses within the BID area

will be exempt from paying the BID levy: commercial

car parking spaces that are rated separately; licensed

on-street traders, kiosks and promotions; telephone

masts, and telephone boxes.The BID levy will be

reduced by 95% where the ratepayer is a registered

charity or the hereditament has a rateable value of

less than £5,000.The BID levy will also not be

affected by the Government’s Small Business Rate

Relief Scheme which came into effect on 1st April

2005.The BID levy is payable on the whole rating

assessment irrespective if part or all of it is empty. In

the case of properties that have been vacated by a

tenant and remain empty, the BID levy will be

collected at 100% from either the owner or

leaseholder (if an occupational lease exists).

There will be noVAT applied to the BID levy.

The BID levy will be collected by Brighton & Hove

City Council annually on 1st July.The Council will

reimburse Brighton BID Company with the BID

levy in its entirety on a regular basis as the levy is

collected throughout the year.The average BID levy

collection rate over the last four years was 96.5%.

Commencement and duration of the BID

The renewed BID will start on 1st July 2011 and will

last for 5 years.A postal ballot of business ratepayers

in the BID area based on a list on non-domestic

ratepayers will take place between 1st April and 28th

April 2011.The result of the ballot will be announced

as soon as practicably possible after the 29th April

2011. If the BID proposal is approved it will operate

for 5 years, from July 2011 until June 2016.

At or before the end of this period, the Board may

seek renewal of the BID mandate.

Alteration of BID arrangements

All budget headings and project costs can be altered

within the constraints of the revenue received

through the levy, and the BID Board will be

empowered to move funds between budget headings

providing that the BID’s aims are adhered to.

The BID area and the BID levy percentage cannot be

altered without an Alteration Ballot.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

The BID will monitor and report on the outputs

and outcomes of BID funded activities through the

measurement of key performance indicators.

To help us to regularly evaluate whether we are

meeting our three core objectives of Safe, Clean and

Vibrant, there are seven Key Performance Indicators,

which will be monitored to verify that we are heading

in the right direction and spending your money on

the things you value most: Results will be

communicated to BID levy payers in regular

newsletters and a BID intranet.

Governance

The BID will continue to be an independent,

not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and

administered by an elected Board.

Recovery action

One of the greatest benefits of the BID is that it

removes the opportunity for freeloading, where

everyone benefits but only some pay. During the

history of the current BID the average collection rate

was 96.5%.Write-off action has only been authorised

by the BID Board after extensive and thorough

recovery action has been exhausted. Nevertheless,

Brighton BID will make a provision for non-collection

of the levy and a prudent reserve will be established

in each financial year. In the event of non-payment of

the BID levy by any business, after appropriate

reminders, summons will be issued and court action

may be taken, for which extra costs will become

payable by the levy payer concerned.

Exit strategy

Should the BID Renewal Ballot in April fail to gain a

majority of support from businesses, the BID Board

will wind up the activities of Brighton BID Ltd when

the current BID term ends on 30th June 2011. Under

such circumstances, from July 1st 2011 all projects

and initiatives funded by the BID levy will cease.

Vote yes for THE PLAN in 2011

Published by; Brighton BID Ltd

First Floor

8-11 Pavilion Buildings

Brighton BN1 1EE

Contact details; Tony Mernagh

(01273) 735062

brightonbid@btconnect.com

Indicator Measure Source Frequency of collationFootfall %age increase/decrease Prime Pitch Weekly

footfall camerasRetail turnover growth against Basket of over Monthly

national benchmark 80 retailersRetail vacancy %age of total in BID area Survey BiannualCrime Number of Incidents BCRP Biannual

reported by BID securitypersonnel

BID levy payer satisfaction %age reporting satisfaction Survey Annualwith individual projects

Procurement savings Number of businesses Survey Annualtaking up offer

Recycling Number of businesses Survey Annualtaking up the offer

THEPLANTO

RENEW

THEBRIGHTONBUSIN

ESSDEVELO

PMENTIMPRO

VEMENTDISTRICT

2322

VOTE

YES