Creating a Business Improvement District (BID) in Morecambe Town Centre |
Morecambe Business Improvement District (BID) - preliminary survey
What would you do to improve Central Morecambe if you had £750,000 to spend?
This is what could be achieved with a Business Improvement District (BID) for Morecambe. This survey is to get your ideas about how you would like Morecambe’s town centre to benefit from a BID.
What is a BID?
A BID is a business led and business funded body formed to improve a defined commercial area.
Each business within the given zone pay 1.5% of their rateable value into a funding pot once a year. For a business with a rateable value of £8,000, this would amount to £120 a year or £2.31 a week.
In Morecambe, the BID would create a funding pot of approx £150,000 (excluding extra or match funding from other sources). Unlike a tax, businesses then get to decide how this money is spent to improve their business district. This would involve ongoing consultation with Morecambe’s businesses to ensure your needs are being met, in ways that you want to see.
All businesses within the BID zone are invited to vote for whether they would like a BID or not. The Morecambe BID ballot is scheduled for Spring 2016. If successful, Morecambe BID will run for five years, with the potential to be extended at the end of this period if local businesses wish for this.
The BID steering group is a non-political organization of local entrepreneurs who have Morecambe’s best interests at heart. They work in a variety of sectors and will use their professional experience to represent your views.
What are the benefits of a BID?
• Raise living and working conditions for local employers and employees
• Boost tourism and increase footfall in the town centre
• Improve the safety of the area
• Attract additional investment from elsewhere to add to the BID spending pot
• Revitalize the local economy
• Make Morecambe a better place to work in, live in, and visit
What would you like for Morecambe town centre?
To fully achieve this, we need to know what improvements and opportunities you would like for Morecambe.
This survey covers some ideas for improving Morecambe, although we have left it open for you to make your own suggestions.
What would you do to improve Central Morecambe if you had £750,000 to spend?
This is what could be achieved with a Business Improvement District (BID) for Morecambe. This survey is to get your ideas about how you would like Morecambe’s town centre to benefit from a BID.
What is a BID?
A BID is a business led and business funded body formed to improve a defined commercial area.
Each business within the given zone pay 1.5% of their rateable value into a funding pot once a year. For a business with a rateable value of £8,000, this would amount to £120 a year or £2.31 a week.
In Morecambe, the BID would create a funding pot of approx £150,000 (excluding extra or match funding from other sources). Unlike a tax, businesses then get to decide how this money is spent to improve their business district. This would involve ongoing consultation with Morecambe’s businesses to ensure your needs are being met, in ways that you want to see.
All businesses within the BID zone are invited to vote for whether they would like a BID or not. The Morecambe BID ballot is scheduled for Spring 2016. If successful, Morecambe BID will run for five years, with the potential to be extended at the end of this period if local businesses wish for this.
The BID steering group is a non-political organization of local entrepreneurs who have Morecambe’s best interests at heart. They work in a variety of sectors and will use their professional experience to represent your views.
What are the benefits of a BID?
• Raise living and working conditions for local employers and employees
• Boost tourism and increase footfall in the town centre
• Improve the safety of the area
• Attract additional investment from elsewhere to add to the BID spending pot
• Revitalize the local economy
• Make Morecambe a better place to work in, live in, and visit
What would you like for Morecambe town centre?
To fully achieve this, we need to know what improvements and opportunities you would like for Morecambe.
This survey covers some ideas for improving Morecambe, although we have left it open for you to make your own suggestions.