Banbury town centre businesses have voted in favour of renewing their Business Improvement District (BID), thereby securing an additional £820,000 of investment for Banbury over the next five years.
Published: Tuesday, 21st February 2023
Banbury BID entered its first five-year term of office in April 2018. With its first term scheduled to end next month, the BID put itself forward (through a five-year business plan) for eligible businesses to vote for whether they should secure a second five year term of office through a renewal ballot which closed on Thursday 16 February.
The successful ballot means that the BID will commence a new five-year term in April, whereby business rates payers within the BID area with a rateable value of over £10,000 will pay an annual levy to the BID based on 1.5 per cent of their property’s rateable value (or 1.125 per cent if they pay service charges within a managed centre).
The levy raised, totalling £820,000 over the five years, will be used by the BID to deliver initiatives and events in line with the business plan proposed to businesses eligible to vote in the ballot - projects which will be over and above the services already being provided by the local authorities.
Councillor Ian Corkin, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Economy, said: “I am delighted that Banbury will continue to have, for the next five years, a Business Improvement District. Banbury is the only town in Oxfordshire to have a Business Improvement District and it is a welcome benefit for Banbury, enabling significant resource to help promote the town and its retail, cultural and leisure offer.
“The delivery of the BID’s business plan will be an enormously valuable addition to the council’s own commitment to Banbury town centre and it will complement the council’s regeneration plans going forward.”