Background
In 2015, local businesses asked us to support the creation of a Business Improvement District (BID) in Banbury town centre.
In 2016, we agreed to fund the initial phase of work to prepare a BID for Banbury. This was at a cost of £6,840, whereby a feasibility study established the level of business support. Of the 115 businesses responding, we had the following results:
- 74 per cent were in favour of the BID concept being tested in a ballot
- 19 per cent were undecided
- 6 per cent were against
Based upon the expressed business support, we agreed to commission Phases 2 and 3. These included the development of a detailed business plan and guiding the campaign through to ballot.
On Wednesday, 15 November 2017 the proposal to establish a Business Improvement District for Banbury was approved.
The result of the Banbury BID ballot was a majority ‘yes’ on both counts:
- Number: 158 votes were received of which 107 voted in favour (67.7%).
- Value: The aggregate rateable value of all hereditaments that voted was £6.095m. The value of those that voted in favour was £3.631m (59.5%)