Rebid bid by BID

The York Council will today decide whether to support the continuation of he York Business Improvement District (BID)

The BID has operated in the York City Centre for the last 4 years. It is due to come to an end in 20121 unless businesses operating in the City centre choose to renew its mandate.

A Council report says that £4 million will have been invested by the BID over the 5 year life of its contract.

Decisions on the allocation of this investment are taken by the established business-led BID Board and focus on areas such as improving the cleanliness of the City Centre, tackling anti-social behaviour and providing business and procurement support for City Centre businesses.

Many independent observers rate the BID as a success but recognise that it has to be paid for through a supplementary business rates levy whihc may not be popular with everyone.

Achievements listed by the BID include: 

The BID funded Street Rangers have engaged with businesses over 15,300 times, recovered £24,000 of stolen stock, provided first aid on 206 occasions and deterred 1,544 cases of anti-social behaviour
Christmas lights switch on and Winter lights – the BID have dressed the City and Bar Wall entrances in over 16 kilometres of lights, and such is the success of the switch on that plans are underway to move the event to a larger area to accommodate the growing crowds expected to attend in 2019
In 2018/19, the BID deep cleaned over 41,500 m2 of the City Centre and responded to 173 call outs from businesses. The team is also pivotal in removing used syringes and large quantities of biowaste from the streets and surrounding areas.

A decision to hold a renewal ballot is expected to be taken later today

Business Improvement District poll set for November

It looks like a poll of businesses located in the City centre will be held in November to decide whether to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in York City centre. The plans were approved by the Council’s Executive last week. The ballot will be run on behalf of the Council by the Electoral Reform Society.

For the bid to be approved it will need to secure the support of over 50% of the businesses in the area both in simple and in rateable value terms. If there is a yes vote, then the first levy on Business Rates will be available for investment during the next financial year starting in April.

Over £800,000 a year is expected to be raised from the levy each year.

The four priorities for funding have been identified as:

Appearance and environment
Events and Festivals
Safe and secure
Business Support and Development

Further details here (and see footnote)

This is the second attempt to establish a BID in York

The BID team still have to clarify several issues before the poll.

The impact on marginal businesses – which add to the character of several of the City’s streets – may be adversely affected by the 1% increase in Business Rates that they will have to pay. Businesses with a rateable value of less than £12,500 are exempt from the new charge
Similarly any additional investment in the City centre may draw trade away from sub-urban shopping areas like Front Street. The Make it York economic development organisation has yet to address the issue of sub-urban prosperity.
The boundaries of the proposed BID area exclude many of the City centre car parks (Bootham Row, Union Terrace, Marygate, St Georges are not included). These car parks are often the first areas that visitors see close up when they arrive in the City. If part of the plan is to invest in cleanliness, street maintenance and floral enhancements, then car parks should be on the list.
The BID board is currently self appointed. Elections to a new board are promised if a BID is agreed. However no guarantees have so far been given that different sectors (visitor attractions, retail, commercial, hospitality, residents associations etc.) will have a seat at the table. Similarly the requirements and aspirations of different geographical parts of the City do vary, so some sort of spatial spread of representation would be desirable.
And finally the documents published so far by the BID organisation fail to tell us what “success” will look like. There are no performance indicators or targets. The relationship with “Make it York” is unclear although the terms of an SLA with the Council were agreed last week. Canny businesses will want to see the performance base data before they commit large sums of money to the project.

If these, and other, issues can be addressed before the ballot takes place, then the establishment of a BID in York will be a welcome initiative.

When suggested in the last decade it was the multiple stores that sunk the plan. Now the new BID promoters must convince the likes of Morrisons and Waitrose that they should vote for a scheme which may only be of marginal benefit to them.

We hope that they are able to do so.

The BID plans are described as

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Numbers visiting city centre stable

The latest “footfall” figures released by the Council suggest that fewer people have walked through the Parliament Street area over the last year.

A 12% reduction in footfall numbers may partly be influenced by the location (and relocation) of the market while a single week increase may indicate a special event being staged.

The camera records for Parliament Street stretch back to 2009. In some weeks the numbers may have been affected by visitors being “channeled” by stalls and other street furniture either beneath the cameras or out of their range.

However using a 12 month rolling weekly average numbers have declined in recent months.

Elsewhere in the City centre, footfall cameras suggest a more stable visitor pattern.

In Church Street. the latest yearly rolling average shows 26,671 visitors per week. This is slightly down on the March figure of 27,766
Comparable figures for Micklegate show 49,605 now, a small increase compared to the 49,161 counted in March
In Stonegate, 133,569 people walked down the street each week in the 12 months leading up to August 2015. The 12 months leading up to March 2015 had seen an almost identical number of pedestrians (133,596)
In Coney Street a rolling average of 239,000 was recorded in 2010. This fell to 180,116 on the latest figures although camera locations have changed.

Overall the figures suggest that the City centre has felt the benefits of a recovering economy. However, there are some concerning trends which may require action by the new “Make it York” economic development body.

The figures are likely to strengthen the case for establishing a Business Improvement District in the City centre

The figures can be downloaded from the Councils open access web site. A summary spreadsheet is available by clicking here

York Council – Weekly news round up

York City seek mature players?

Aged 70, I’m at last playing football”- and you can too!

Following a successful pilot scheme between the council and York City Football Club Foundation a new opportunity is available to anyone aged over 50 who would like to step up to walking football.

Walking football is a popular, slower-paced version of the game where running is treated as a foul. This ruling makes it suitable for older people who would like to return to sport or take up a new challenge.

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Have your say on the council’s key priorities for the next four-years

Whether it’s focussing resources on providing more housing, good quality jobs or ensuring that there is a focus on delivering key frontline services, the council feels it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to contribute towards these priorities and feedback their views.

York residents and businesses have until Wednesday 26 August to feedback on the draft proposals, which are based on the new administration’s priorities and the council’s statutory responsibilities.

The plan is built around three key priorities, including:

A prosperous city for all – where local businesses can thrive and residents have good quality jobs, housing and opportunities
A focus on frontline services – to ensure all residents, particularly the least advantaged, can access reliable services and community facilities
A council that listens to residents -to ensure it delivers the services you want and works in partnership with local communities.

Feedback can be made via a number of ways below, which will be bought back to an Executive meeting in September for final approval:

Online: www.york.gov.uk/councilplan
In person: drop by and see officers at West Offices on Wednesday 12 or Thursday 14 August
Drop-off points: at libraries or Explore Centres until 26 August.
Social media: ‘tag us’ @CityofYork on Twitter or @CityofYorkCouncil on Facbeook using #councilplan
By post: send feedback to FREEPOST RTEG-TYYU-KLTZ, Business Intelligence Team, City of York Council, West Offices, York YO1 6GA.

Number of York jobseekers falls again

National statistics released today have revealed the number of residents claiming Job Seekers Allowance in York has fallen for the fourth consecutive month.

The number of claimants in York has fallen by 49.8 percent in the last year. There are now 791 claimants in York, a fall of 98 from last month and of 1,577 from June 2014. Today’s figures also showed a 58.2 per cent fall in the Youth unemployment count since June 2014.

The claimant count represents 0.6 per cent of the working population and contrasts to the regional average which stands at 2.4 per cent. The figures are also much lower than the national average which stands at 1.7 per cent.

Spin bowler

Councillor Keith Aspden, Deputy Leader of City of York Council said: “It is pleasing to see that partnership working across the city is helping to keep unemployment low and defy the national trend which has seen the number of jobseekers increase in the last quarter. The new Executive is committed to building on this and as part of our Emergency Budget we are boosting support for small local businesses. I am also working with officers to increase the number of apprenticeships in the council and across York.

Adult learners offered more than ever before

York Learning is offering its widest range of adult learning opportunities ever with its new Learning 4 Everyone programme which is being rolled out across the city.

On offer for the first time too is the widest ever selection of courses from learning partners across the city, such as the University of York and York College. The WEA which features in the brochure has reported an enormous amount of interest following their inclusion in the brochure.

The new programme can be picked up from libraries across the city and holds information on over 300 courses taking place over the coming months.

Vote proposed for Business Improvement District

Plans for a ballot to take place in November to allow city centre businesses to decide on a proposed Business Improvement District (BID) will be put to the cross-party Economic Development and Transport Policy and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 22 July.

Then, on Thursday 30 July, Executive will consider the report which recommends approval of the continuing development of a Business Development District as well as approve a ballot in November 2015 when city centre businesses will be asked to vote on whether they would like to form a BID.

The initiative, led by City Team York, a group of local businesses chaired by Adam Sinclair, would see businesses predominantly within the inner ring road come together to form a BID company to decide how they pool resources to benefit the local economy.

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Public Health report on Dementia Published

City of York Council has published the latest monthly chapter of its Director of Public Health annual report for 2015 which focuses on dementia.

The council’s Director of Public Health is legally required to produce an annual report on the health of the local population.

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Low awareness of ‘non-lump’ breast cancer symptoms puts over 70s’ health at risk in York

City of York Council is supporting Public Health England’s ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign launched today which is aimed at women aged 70 and over.

just under a half of women aged 70 and over were able to name a symptom aside from a lump
• latest annual figures show 15 women aged 70 and over died from breast cancer in York in 2013

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York Business Improvement District – last chance

The Council’s Cabinet will tomorrow agree to spend £25,000 on a second attempt to establish a “business improvement district” (BID) in the central part of York.

It is 10 years since the first attempt was made. BIDs require the support of the majority of businesses in an area if they are to be able to use supplementary rate income to fund economic regeneration initiatives.

A decade ago, a similar scheme failed to gain widespread support and was abandoned.

At the time, several of the national chains (who exercise a large number of votes in any ballot) refused to participate in the scheme, while the Council had taken steps to freeze (and at Fossgate reduce) parking charges – so there was less incentive for change.

In addition the City centre was generally trading well – as it is today. There are relatively few empty shops in the core area and the latest footfall figures show number increasing (which is what you would expect as the country emerges from recession)

The initiative has come in the wake of the 3 “free” parking morning’s trial which was funded through S106 contributions from a development at Monks Cross. That funding ends soon and the Council last week agreed to a Green party proposal to a general increase in car parking charges. The background, therefore, maybe one of the “perfect storm” with several marginal businesses in the City centre likely to feel the pinch.

In 2007, the BID project was led by an experienced manager who had done similar schemes successfully elsewhere.

This time the former editor of The Press newspaper is likely to be in charge.

The business case is unconvincing at least in so far as it fails to debate what has changed, over the last 10 years, which could result in the majority of business now voting for an initiative which would increase the amount they pay in Business Rates.

The Council says that, if successful, the BID would expect to generate an additional £800,000 a year which would be spent on “an improved city centre environment in terms of public realm, security, increased footfall, events and cleanliness”