Carlisle city centre BID proposal rejected
Firms in Carlisle city centre have not backed a proposal to set up a Business Improvement District. Most of the business ratepayers in the area who voted rejected the plan – although the majority of rateable value voted in favour, reported The Cumberland News.
A ‘yes’ vote is required for both categories to allow a BID to be approved, which means that in this case the smaller businesses rejected the BID plans. The BID levy threshold was set at a rateable value of £7,500
The votes for the ‘BID’ ballot have been cast, verified and counted. A total of 332 businesses were eligible to vote. There was a 37.3% turnout.
The declaration of the results was held today (Friday, 28 September), at the Civic Centre, after polling closed yesterday. The ballot period for qualifying businesses took place between Wednesday, 29 August and Thursday, 27 September.
The results are as follows:
• Total number of votes cast in the ballot, excluding any given on ballot papers rejected: 124
• Aggregate rateable value of each hereditament in respect of which a person voted in the ballot: £7,787,050
• Total number of votes cast in favour of the proposed Business Improvement District for Carlisle: 55
• Aggregate rateable value of each hereditament in respect of which a person voting in the ballot has voted in favour of the proposed Business Improvement District for Carlisle: £5,284,900
I was one of the firms to reject the BID as like many of the other traders in CARLISLE we felt this was just another stealth tax. We felt the council were off loading some of their services on to the retailers who were going to be charged for taking over these services with no reduction on our rates. It would have cost my business over £400.00 per year. I understand our council spent over £30.000 on consultant fees plus all the printing & administration.