IPSWICH: BID extension support
The Borough Council's executive votes to back the Ipswich Central BID being extended to March 2027
Provision of street rangers, CCTV and free public Wi-Fi in Ipswich town centre have been given a boost after Ipswich Borough Council voted to back an extension of the Business Improvement District.
Ipswich Borough Council’s Tuesday meeting of the executive voted by six to one in favour of the council backing the extension of the Ipswich Central BID continuing from April 2022 to March 2027, which will be cast in a ballot alongside other businesses and organisations on November 25.
The BID is funded by a levy on top of business rates in the BID zone, and helps fund key services such as the town centre rangers, a radio link between stores, funding for the Christmas tree and events and promotion among other benefits.
If approved in the final ballot, the new BID – the fourth such BID the town has had – will also include additional services such as a £50,000 investment in the town’s CCTV network, letters sculptures across the town to provide ‘Instagrammable moments’ and a revival of the Stoke Bridge area of town.
Businesses in the BID area above the rateable value threshold of £24,500 will pay a BID levy of 1.75% on top of their business rates.
Ipswich Borough Council has 24 eligible outlets for the BID levy, which means it gets to vote in the final proposals.
Ipswich Borough Council leader David Ellesmere said: “There is a strong theme in the business plan around making the town safer, such as street rangers, radio link and taxi marshals, a new proposal for this BID period with a contribution of £10,000 per year to the council’s CCTV system.
“There will also be contributions to events and promotions to attract businesses to the town centre.
“The vast majority of the proposals in the business plan are in full alignment with the council’s priorities, and we do welcome them.
“I would even go further – if Ipswich Central were not providing some of these services – especially those related to public safety – then I believe there would be pressure from members of the public for someone else, most likely the borough council, to do so.
“It is clear it would cost the council much more than our proposed levy payment to replace those services.”
Other pledges in the business plan include support for regeneration of key areas such as the Lloyds Avenue entrance to the Cornhill, town trails and a year of themed events to celebrate Thomas Wolsey’s links to the town.
The BID area is also being expanded to accommodate parts of Norwich Road and Christchurch Park, although changes to the rateable value means the numbers eligible to pay it will actually drop from 633 to 461.
Conservative group leader Ian Fisher, voted against the proposals, and said: “I support the BID in the form it is in so far, and I am not necessarily against the idea of having BID 4, but there are certain parts I am not particularly comfortable with.
“I am not particularly sure in this current climate we should be asking businesses to pay such a huge increase in their levy.”
Cllr Fisher said that the Conservative group were ‘quite concerned that the board didn’t seem to contain many members from the levy payers themselves’, which ‘doesn’t give the levy payers much representation’.
There were also question marks over the expansion to the Christchurch Park area.
The final ballot will take place on November 25, with the result publicly announced shortly after.