The Bournemouth Town Centre BID is a not for profit company with a board of directors made up of representatives from local levy paying businesses. During its first five year term, the BID invested over £3 million in improving the town centre. In 2017 the decision to renew the BID for the a further five years was put to the local business community.
To encourage a YES vote, we generated a significant amount of editorial in key local publications prior to the ballot. Regular and targeted editorial was used to reach out to the local business community. We also distributed invites (to BID funded events) to local companies, business leaders, ‘movers and shakers’ and prominent people in the local community – focussing solely on town centre businesses.
Our activities sought out decision makers in the geographical area, engaged with them and informed them of the valuable work done by the Town Centre BID over the past five years and their planned future investments.
Following the intensive campaign, the majority of ratepayers in the BID area voted YES in favour of renewal proposals. They represented an aggregate rateable value of 89%, with the total number of YES votes standing at 78%. This resulted in the Town Centre BID being renewed for a further 5 years. They will now be investing a further £3 million to help raise the profile of Bournemouth’s Town Centre, increase footfall and bring in more customers.