By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 13:11, Saturday, 29 September 2012

Businesses have voted down plans to set up a Business Improvement District for Carlisle city centre.

Colin Glover

A business improvement district (Bid) aims to boost trade by using cash raised from an annual levy on business rates to spend on marketing.

It can happen only if a majority of businesses, by number and by rateable value, support the idea in a ballot.

Carlisle City Council recently balloted 332 city-centre businesses.

Announcing the result yesterday, Mark Lambert, the council’s director of governance, revealed that only 124 had voted – barely a third of those eligible.

And they had rejected the proposal by 69 to 55.

However, a majority by rateable value backed the idea. This suggests it had the support of large retailers but not of small independents.

Bookseller Stephen Matthews, who chaired the Bid steering group, was “very disappointed”.

He said: “Big businesses supported it because they know it’s essential.

“Other cities are going ahead with Bids and we are going to lose out.

“The benefits are twofold. There is the money a Bid would raise and how it can be used. It also gets retailers together and talking to the council to have a shared objective.”

He added: “The extra money, one per cent on business rates, is a comparatively small amount. If we had handled the Bid well there would have been direct gains that would have got this money back.”

Had businesses voted ‘yes’, a board would have been set up to manage the city centre. The levy on rates was expected to raise £220,000 in the first year rising to £248,000 by 2016.

Marks & Spencer, Mothercare and Wilkinsons openly supported the Bid.

Those against included Casanova Menswear, Turnbulls Lingerie and Northern Vacuums.

The council pointed to Ipswich, in Suffolk, as an example of what might be done in Carlisle.

The Ipswich Bid, set up in 2007, has tackled graffiti and fly-posting, run marketing campaigns, car parking and park-and-ride promotions, and carried out lighting and planting schemes.

It also employs ‘street rangers’ to combat petty crime.

Colin Glover, deputy leader of the council, said: “Although I am disappointed that businesses have voted against a Bid, this was their choice to make.

“We will continue to work with them to build on the relationships developed throughout the Bid process to look for other opportunities to improve the vitality of the city centre.”

The proposal was drawn up by the previous Conservative administration, which lost power in May.

Councillor Marilyn Bowman, who had been responsible for the initiative, claimed the ballot result would have been different under Conservatives control. She said: “Businesses have no confidence in the present [Labour] administration.”

First published at 11:53, Saturday, 29 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk