The National BIDs Pilot
Working with government, businesses, our 22 pilot locations and other key stakeholders, this pioneering initiative demonstrated the potential of Business Improvement Districts. The Pilot was run in parallel with and with reference to the development of the primary legislation for England and Wales and secondary legislation for England. However, the lessons learnt apply to any partnership seeking to secure a breadth of engagement with public and private sectors in order to develop projects and services which will deliver with tangible benefits.
The aims of the National Pilot were to:
- Test BIDs in a range of locations
- Establish required level and nature of managerial competence and skills
- Produce reliable guidance on operational, training and recruitment issues
- Identify resources, timescales, mechanisms and measurement needed
- Test and validate the role of the wide range of partner agencies involved
- Produce good practice document and electronic information bank
- Define a process which is simple, open and inclusive
- Capacity building
- Validate guidance and informing secondary legislation
- Identification of pitfalls
The Good Practice Guide encapsulates the expertise that we built up from the National Pilot, and can be accessed in the following section of the Knowledge Bank
As these endorsements show, businesses were key partners in the National Pilot, and UKBIDs will continue to support the crucial relationship between businesses and Business Improvement Districts:
"I think that the BIDs concept presents a really exciting opportunity for influencing physical change in the areas of the public realm that directly impact on the trading environment."
John Bullough, Grosvenor Ltd
"To vitalise town centres the public and private sectors need to understand each other's needs and requirements. We need to acknowledge that we are equal stakeholders. Through a joint commitment to BIDs then both industry and local government will benefit."
David Stathers, Boots Properties Plc
"Prudential, with its strong presence in many of our major towns, has been a long-term supporter of the BIDs initiative and other ATCM projects, and we are a funding partner on the Steering Group. We recognise the social and commercial importance in revitalising our town and city centres via a long-term and sustainable programme, which is the objective of the BIDs initiative."
John Proctor, Prudential Property Investment Managers Ltd