Chamber head warns businesses cannot afford BID bill for Bangor

A LEADING Bangor business figure has raised concerns about a ‘compulsory levy’ being introduced as part of the proposed Business Improvement District (BID) plans for the city.

Frank Shivers, president of Bangor Chamber of Commerce, has warned that should the BID plans be given the green light, already struggling local businesses would be hit with another bill.

The head of the local business community has pointed out that businesses will have to pay the BID membership fee, regardless of whether they voted in favour of setting up the business district or not.

The aim of the BID is to bring together businesses from the retail, hospitality, arts, leisure and transport sectors to deliver improvements such as street cleaning, public-space upgrades, events and targeted marketing to promote Bangor as a destination.

The proposed Bangor Business Improvement District will include key commercial areas, such as Main Street, High Street, Quay Street, Queen’s Parade, Hamilton Road, Abbey Street, and the areas bordering Ward Park and Castle Park. There are currently more that 340 Business Improvement Districts across the United Kingdom, with eight in Northern Ireland including three in Belfast, and others in Ballymena, Coleraine, Enniskillen, Newry and Strabane.

Mr Shivers has also voiced concern that £80,000 of public money, including £40,000 from the council and Department for Communities has been allocated to the setting up of the BID.

He asserted the funds would have been better spent on initiatives such as ‘shopfront grants, town centre events, crime prevention measures, marketing campaigns or support for independent businesses’.

However, the Bangor BID steering group has strongly rejected ‘inaccurate impressions’ about plans to introduce the city’s first business district, with the public consultation due to begin in September.

In particular, the BID spokeswoman said it was ‘somewhat surprising to hear criticism of the funding being used to explore a Bangor BID, given that the Chamber itself unsuccessfully applied for the same Department for Communities funding to undertake this very work’.

The steering group stated that the £80,000 funding was ‘specifically allocated for BID development and cannot be diverted to other local projects. Had Bangor not secured the funding, it would simply have been awarded to another town or city in Northern Ireland to support the development of a BID there’.

The spokeswoman said the ‘overwhelming majority’ of BIDs ‘have subsequently been renewed by businesses through further ballots every five years, as required by legislation’.

Addressing the suggestion that a BID was an additional cost to businesses, the BID group said: “The evidence from hundreds of towns and cities across the UK demonstrates the opposite.

“Businesses continue to vote for BIDs because they see them as an investment rather than an expense, one that delivers enhanced marketing, improved events, stronger business representation, additional funding, and practical projects that individual businesses could not deliver alone.”