The board of Vision Buxton appointed leading place management consultants, The Mosaic Partnership, to carry out a feasibility study to determine whether a BID would be right for Buxton town centre.
The BID Feasibility Study has now been completed. To see the Executive Summary, please click here.
The Mosaic Partnership are leading place management consultants who have developed over 80 BIDs in the UK and abroad.
The deadline for the BID survey was 16th October. The responses are now being analysed. Thank-you to all who responded for your interest. We will bring you more information as soon as it is available.
Vision Buxton is waiting for the outcome of the Council’s applications to the second round of the Future High Street Fund scheme before readdressing a BID.
Unfortunately, it has become necessary to postpone the proposed meeting with business owners about the BID which was scheduled for 27 February. Since arrangements for that meeting were made, new information has come to light which affects the timing of the whole process. The referendum required to adopt (or not) a BID proposal, as and when drawn up, must be conducted by HPBC, which is not in a position to do so before summer 2019 due to council elections in Spring that year. It is also the case that funding to develop a BID proposal will not be available until later this year. Vision Buxton is making further enquiries and will reschedule the meeting when more detailed information will be available.
The BID Feasibility Study, carried out Mosaic Partnership Ltd, was commissioned primarily to assess whether Buxton met the fundamental criteria for developing a BID and, through the consultation exercise, assessed the level of support for a BID and considered local business needs and priorities. It concludes that a BID scheme would be viable in Buxton. Our Board of Directors accepted the study at a meeting on Tuesday 23rd January at the Devonshire Dome. The Executive Summary of the report has been available on our website since 24th January (see link above). Vision Buxton have been invited to present the study to the High Peak Borough Council’s Economy and Growth Committee at a future meeting.
The full report is being made available to all potential levy payers and Vision Buxton members upon request; due both to licence restrictions and in order to keep track of who has and has not seen the report. If you own an eligible business (rateable values of over £5000) and would like to see it, please email our administrator, confirming such, at administrator@visionbuxton.co.uk.
Moving forward, a group of 10-20 people from different businesses is required to create an effective steering group. The make-up of the steering group should reflect that of the businesses in the BID area identified in the report. It is important that the right blend of business knowledge and skills, local understanding and representation from different businesses and from different parts of the town are part of this group. Mosaic has made recommendations as to the business sectors from which members should be recruited based on the model used in Shrewsbury, which is considered to be a close match for Buxton.
To assist this next step, Vision Buxton will host a meeting. At the meeting, we will discuss the outcomes of the feasibility study and co-ordinate the development of a BID steering group. We invite all business owners within the proposed BID area, who are potential levy payers, to attend the meeting and express their interest in being a member of the steering group.
If you are unable to make the meeting but would like to put yourself for the steering group, please email our administrator (administrator@visionbuxton.co.uk) prior to the meeting and your details will be passed on.
At the end of the meeting, Vision Buxton hopes to pass the project to the proposed steering group members. Vision Buxton will only offer advice and aid the process of forming the group if asked. Vision Buxton, as an organisation, will not be represented in the steering group; however, eligible business owners who are Vision Buxton members will not be excluded from putting themselves forward.
Once formed, the BID steering group will replace Vision Buxton as the BID champions. They will promote and steer the project to a vote on whether the BID scheme will go ahead.
Further details of the meeting will be confirmed soon.
Message as reported in the Buxton Advertiser, 23rd November 2017
Once study completed…
If decision by Vision Buxton to proceed further…
Once government development funding availability is confirmed…
If a Steering Group is formed…
If ballot of levy payers supports a BID…
The target timeline has been extended from that first proposed due to a delay in getting the data required, ability of the HPBC to hold the referendum before Spring 2019 and the unavailability of funding to develop the BID proposal.
To find out more about BIDs in general click here
To find out more about the Mosaic Partnership click here