FAQs
A BID is a business-led and business funded body formed to improve a defined commercial area. BID stands for Business Improvement District.
- You can find out your rateable value by going on to https://www.gov.uk/introduction-to-business-rates/how-your-rates-are-calculated
- You need your postcode.
- The bid levy is 1.5% of this figure – business rates is approximately 43% of this
- For the first time in its history Romford town centre will be managed by the business community.
- A better managed, better looking and more prosperous town centre
- Better commercial experience, more visitors, staying longer spending more leaving happier.
- Greener, cleaner, safer.
- Better profile and more influence on how it grows and evolves.
- Its decided by a democratic vote to ensure it is fair – if the vote is favourable (by majority) then all in the area pay for the five year period. This ensures that it doesn’t fall only a few number of businesses to carry the rest.
- It lasts for five years and then you vote again.
- Councils have limited budgets which are reducing annually.
- Your business rates are set and controlled by central government.
- The monies collected are required to deliver core services for the whole borough, economic development is not considered to be a core service.
- If you are in the BID area and have a RV above 20K you have to pay the levy and have the option to become a member of the Romford BID Company.
- You will benefit in lots of ways – more customers, better town centre, more spend per head, better profile town, safer, greener, cleaner and more welcoming. Better promoted and more business support.
- You will have to pay. It is 1.5% of your RV. We do it this way so it is fair. Small businesses pay less and large pay more. The levy is a small amount in comparison to business rates (43%) and is ring fenced and can only be spent on projects and services that are above and beyond what the council already does. We guarantee this.
The boundary line includes businesses on both sides of the street and all businesses within the line.
1st January 2019.
The vote and campaign was managed by the Company Mosaic they have helped over 100 towns and cities across the UK become business Improvement Districts. The ballot itself was held by an independent body called the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) who manage the general election votes .
BIDs were first established in Canada and the US in the 1960s and now exist across the globe, including in South Africa, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
There are hundreds of Bids across the world.
The majority of BIDs exist in town centres, however there are increasing numbers in industrial areas, as well as commercial and mixed-use locations. There are over 330 BIDs in the UK.
The average size of a BID is 300-400 hereditaments (businesses), with some of the smallest having fewer than 50 hereditaments and the largest at 2,500. Annual income is typically £200,000 - £600,000 but can be less than £50,000 per annum or over £2 million.
A BID can only be formed following consultation and a ballot in which businesses vote on a BID Proposal or business plan for the area.
The ballot by law is run by the local authority or outsourced by the local authority to a third party.
The BID levy is on business occupiers ie. business ratepayers, rather than property owners. This is in line with the business rates system.
The BID levy is collected by the local authority into a ring-fenced account and passed to the BID Company for use on the projects and services set out in the BID proposal.
A BID is funded through the BID levy, which is a small percentage of a business’ rateable value.
The majority of BIDs charge between 1% and 2% of rateable value, however there are good reasons why some have opted for higher levies, particularly in locations with lower rateable values such as industrial areas.
Our levy will be a 1.5% levy, a business with a rateable value of £20,000 would pay £300 per annum.
Once a ballot is successful the BID levy is mandatory for all eligible businesses. BIDs can choose to exclude certain businesses from paying the levy (and therefore from voting in the BID ballot) we have said that businesses with an RV below 20K are exempt.
For further information relating to discounts for managed estates or charity exemptions please refer to the Romford BID Business plan.
The improvements made by a BID are determined by businesses and can include core services such as additional cleansing and security or more wide-ranging projects such as recycling, business support, improved infrastructure, joint purchasing, area branding and promotion.
BIDs operate for a maximum of five years at which point all levy payers get to vote again for it to continue.