Business improvement districts: The impact of their introduction on retailers and leisure operators

Abstract

is a partner in the planning and public law team at DWS, and the chair of the Circle Initiative. Supported by the London Development Agency, the Circle Initiative comprises five partnerships working to achieve BID status in Holborn, Waterloo, Bankside, Paddington and Piccadilly Circus. Stephen spent 12 months in the USA researching mechanisms for managing the public realm such as BIDs and, together with the BPF, ATCM, LGA and others, has been drafting amendments to the emerging BIDs legislation recently proposed in the House of Lords. Abstract Business improvement districts (BIDs) are high on the political agenda in the UK. Legislation is going through Parliament that will give them a statutory form by April 2004. With the welcome attention being given by government, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the property industry to improving the public realm, BIDs seem to be an idea whose time has come. This paper outlines the history of BIDs, explains how they are likely to operate in the UK, looks at the lessons that are being learnt from the ongoing BID pilots and looks at the implications for retailers and leisure operators. Keywords: additionality, clean and safe, partnerships, property owner involvement, Circle Initiative, urban space management HISTORY At their simplest BIDs are organisations entitled to levy an additional property tax within a specified area for providing a defined range of services or carrying out specific works. The concept of BIDs is not new. Ironically, to a large extent they were born in England. In 1250 local residents near Romney Marsh were assessed to pay for repairs to sea walls. The assessments were made in proportion to the acreage of the land owned and benefited by the sea walls. Sewers were funded this way from as early as 1427, Scarborough Pier was paid for in 1545 and various 'castells and forts' were secured in north England in 1555. Road repair costs were specially assessed as early as 1576. Although it is too wide a generalisation, at the time voters tended to be property owners, so that those who were voting tended to be