Call for continued backing of multi-million pound project to enhance city centre

Businesses have been urged to again get behind a non-profit scheme which aims to pump £15m into Leeds city centre over the next five years.

Firms which have paid the Leeds Business Improvement District (BID) levy since 2015 will be asked to vote in favour of the BID continuing into 2020 to 2025.

On September 10 the business plan for the next five years of the initiative will be revealed at a launch event at Leeds City Varieties, with the important vote due to take place the following month.

So far Leeds BID, which has its office in Briggate and is the biggest initiative of its kind in the UK outside London, has spent £12.5m on improving the city centre. Its budget of nearly £3m a year comes from 670 business levy payers occupying 970 properties in central Leeds. Firms with a rateable value of £60,000 or above pay an annual levy rate of 1.25%.

Leeds BID Chief Executive Andrew Cooper said the investment had made a major, positive impact on business owners, shoppers and visitors since it began in the city in 2015.

“The levy gives us a fighting fund to put back into the centre of Leeds – it’s not spent anywhere else,” he said.

“We’re non-profit and we’re not about stockpiling or paying big sums to shareholders or directors. The businesses that fund us want to see a return on their investment and we spend the money on those issues these businesses want addressed to help improve the environment they work in.

“We’ve delivered so much in five years. We have to be nimble and we are all about what’s happening now, and delivering the needs of the changing dynamics of the city.”

He explained that for its first five-year stint, the BID consulted businesses on what they wanted to see done in the city centre, then put together a business plan based on their responses.

“We stick to our plan and make sure we’re governed by the businesses that pay our levy,” he said.

“Our Board has a real mix of skills and abilities and we have people sitting round the table who wouldn’t normally be collaborating with each other.

“Some of them are competitors but they are round the table together because they want to see Leeds prosper and improve. We have people who are passionate about the city and we bring them together to make things happen.”

Cooper said that in direct response to the priorities highlighted by businesses, the BID had spent the last five years improving the welcome to the city, enhancing the experience it offers visitors during their stay and improving the voice businesses have – especially in the fields of skills and recruitment.

The BID has funded eye-catching Welcome to Leeds artwork, spent money on public spaces such as St Peter’s Square and Park Square and put on a programme of summer activities in Sovereign Square.

It has paid for teams of distinctively dressed welcome ambassadors, street cleaning rangers and night time economy ambassadors – who all work to make the city friendlier, cleaner and safer.

The BID has also successfully worked to attract major events to Leeds, including the MOBO awards and Radio Awards, while backing existing local events such as Indie Food Festival, Thought Bubble, Compass Live Art Festival and Transform Festival.

It has helped the Conference and Hospitality Show, began the Leeds International Festival and has recently been running the popular, family-friendly Leeds Jurassic Trail and the Summer in the City programme.

Working with Leeds Beckett University and Leeds City College it has even established a Retail and Hospitality centre, to tackle the resourcing and skills challenges faced by local businesses.

Cooper said the BID had consulted businesses on its activities earlier this year, and 98% of the 300 firms which responded said they would like to see the BID continue.

For more information about the 8am to 10am September 10 launch of the BID’s business plan for the next five years, visit https://www.leedsbid.co.uk/whats-next-leedsbid