It is now 20 years since the legislation set up BIDs in England, and now there are 340 BIDs across the British Isles, 136,484.00 hereditaments and a £152,987,160 annual spend.
There were 13 Successful Ballots last month: Harrow, Hitchin, Letchworth, Bermondsey, Sunderland, Kendal, West Ealing, Letchworth, Keighley, Crewe, Royston, Hinckley, and Brighouse.
There are a further 65 BIDs in the development stage, coming forward to ballot in the next year or so.
Business leaders making the case for reinstating VAT-free shopping for overseas visitors across the country.
Since the VAT refund scheme was withdrawn in 2021 as businesses in the country’s high-end shopping districts say that some 10% of 2019 spending by international tourists, £1.5 billion-worth of sales, has moved to Paris, Rome and other shopping hotspots in the EU, leaving the countries' tourist trade recovery the worst in Europe.
A new “zero-tolerance” plan is set to be agreed between ministers, police and retailers in a bid to crack down on the current shoplifting epidemic. Police chiefs unveiled the plan as the number of incidents top more than 1,000 per day.
Last week was Safer Business Action Week, where the National Business Crime Centre, police and partners across the country joined together to tackle business crime in their communities.
The week of action involved Business Reductions Partnerships (BCRPs), Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and the private security industry working with local police forces to deliver a focused operation with joint patrols, the targeted intervention of offenders and a range of crime prevention activity including raising awareness with the public.