Renewed calls for Yorkshire Coast BID scheme to be terminated
The Yorkshire Coast Levy Payers Association's calling on councillors to consider Section 18 of regulations
Businesses against the Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District says there is still time for the scheme to be terminated.
They are calling on councillors to consider using Section 18 of BID regulations to do that before the upcoming North Yorkshire unitary authority next year.
It is as businesses on the Yorkshire Coast will be sent reminders in April to pay the bill with many refusing to do so.
The BID is a tax for businesses with a rateable value of over £12,000 and the money goes towards projects to benefit the local area.
Hero Sumner runs a shop in Whitby and is a member of the Yorkshire Coast Levy Payers Association.
She said: "Absolutely nobody in Scarborough has had any court dates set. That's over 600 businesses that are still outstanding from the last year and so in total from year one, they've got something like 1,632 that are outstanding, this came up at the last full council at the end of last month.
"Given that Scarborough doesn't seem to be in a particular hurry to start pursuing those payments, what is being asked is that councillors start looking once again, instead of rolling this over and making it become a problem for the new unitary council that they can enforce something called Section 18 of the BID regulations.
"Section 18 enables a council to terminate the BID. It's a perfectly legal process. It's happened in a number of instances for example in Hexham, the businesses couldn't and refused to pay, it made the BID untenable and so Hexham council voted to actually terminate the whole BID.
"It would end the headache for everybody really, because it is. Believe you me, it's a headache. People down in the East Riding are being taken to court. It's shocking. Absolutely shocking. Down in the East Riding over 84 businesses had court dates on March 10th and many of them requested an adjournment."
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Coast BID said: “In response to the upcoming Levy payments, we would like to reiterate that YCBID is not responsible for collecting any payments, this is done by the respective local authorities.
“YCBID would like to thank all businesses that have continued to support our programme over the last three years, and we are pleased and excited to be able to mobilise the delivery of many projects, including Route YC, The Odyssey and the Yorkshire Sculpture Collection as well as supporting 35 different projects across the Coast.
“The BID is incredibly excited about the positive impact these projects will have for businesses, residents of the Yorkshire Coast and visitors to the area.
“The BID will continue to promote, protect the incredible Yorkshire Coast and support its members, delivering on our shared vision, which will be created in collaboration with our valued members.”