Back the BIDs!

Mishcon de Reya is delighted at the success of the Holborn Business Partnership in achieving full Business Improvement District (BID) status earlier this year.

Summit House at Night

Following the Local Government Act 2003 which established a framework for setting up American style BIDs in England and Wales, there has been a flurry of activity with Holborn Business Partnership (one of the pilot BID schemes set up by Central London Partnership) being among the first to secure full BID status, by winning a clear majority in a ballot of local business ratepayers. This win is of particular interest to Mishcon since we have been partners in Holborn Business Partnership right from the outset, having participated in the original fact finding mission to New York.

The visit was organised by Central London Partnership to see how BIDs had been used to revitalise previously run down districts of New York and to find out whether they would work in the UK. A BID is essentially a partnership between local authority and local businesses to raise money to spend on local projects via a BID levy. It is a positive illustration of the real and tangible benefits of public and private sector working together towards a common goal.

In Red Lion Square we have already seen the benefit of expenditure in the form of Rangers to patrol the streets, additional policing and refuse collection, which has made the area a safer and cleaner place to work, not to mention the Copper Beech that has just been planted in the Square to mark the ballot success! One element of the legislation is due for review since the Act provides that the BID levy is on business occupiers and not owners. The government refused to extend the levy to owners (which would have been in line with the US BID model) on the grounds that it did not want to create what could be regarded as a property tax.

However, it agreed to conduct a formal review of the involvement of property owners starting this autumn and concluding in January 2007.

For further advice contact:
Susan Freeman
Telephone +44 (0)20 7440 7017
susan.freeman@mishcon.com