Business Improvement District (BID) Guidance Notes

A Business Improvement District is a partnership arrangement through which local authorities and the local business community can take forward schemes which will benefit the local community, subject to the agreement of ratepayers. Ratepayers will agree to pay an additional levy on their rate bill to finance a BID. The ratepayers themselves will decide in advance on the way in which their money is spent and how much they are prepared to pay in addition to their rates bill. Each ratepayer who will be asked to contribute to the BID will be able to vote on whether or not that BID goes ahead.

A BID can be established in any place where additional services to those which the Local Authority provides are desired by the local business community. BIDs could be located in town centres, in one or two particular streets or a larger area. Equally they could be located in Industrial estates, business parks or anywhere else that business sees a need. This could include a broad range of projects in terms of their size and the issues they address.

Businesses may be prepared to pay to secure preventative measures such as more frequent policing, installation of CCTV cameras and litter bins; remedial measures such as a rapid response to graffiti and litter, replacing street lamps, mending pavements and investment in the visual appearance of the area, such as tree planting. Other types of problems could also be addressed. BIDs could provide local training and employment schemes and, even, more frequent local transport. The important point is that all parties in the BID process agree on the improvement that needs to be made and on the necessary steps to be taken to achieve it.

For detailed guidance on the scheme and the regulations please click on the links below.

Downloads:

File format	File title	File size / Download time
	ODPM Detailed Guidance on BIDs.pdf	278K 56Kbps Modem: 41 Seconds Broadband: 1 Second
	Regulations on administering BIDs	145K 56Kbps Modem: 21 Seconds Broadband: 1 Second
	Regulations on Contracting Out of BID Levy Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions	46K 56Kbps Modem: 7 Seconds Broadband: 1 Second