one chelmsford our new city

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1 one chelmsford our new city The Business Plan Our proposals for a Business Improvement District in Chelmsford ( ) Vote YES to a BID in Chelmsford City Centre

2 A foreword from Neil I have lived and worked in Chelmsford since 1987 and have seen its development over 30 years. Since its elevation to city status in 2012 there has been something of a renaissance, with large investments in retail space, offices and housing. The opening of the Bond Street shopping centre and related improvements to the High Street in 2016 has been a significant catalyst in enhancing Chelmsford. To ensure that the city maintains and enhances its position as the county s premier destination for staff, businesses and shoppers alike, we need to make sure that this momentum continues and that the business community has a strong and coordinated voice in directing this. I am therefore proud to be part of the Steering Group that has helped shape these proposals for the One Chelmsford Business Improvement District in Chelmsford City Centre. Over the past 18 months the Steering Group has worked hard to engage with a wide range of businesses from across the city centre to ensure these proposals reflect your opinions. Everybody contributes to a Business Improvement District, so it is only right that everybody should get something out of it. One Chelmsford s proposals aim to benefit a broad crosssection of businesses, whether it s improving Chelmsford s image as a place to visit and shop or enhancing your staff s experience of working here and improving retention. One Chelmsford BID will focus on three main areas, explained further in this booklet: - Destination Chelmsford - City Centre Operations - Stronger Business Community Having seen the impact of BID s in other similar locations, I am convinced that the BID s proposals can make a real difference to the city s future economic performance. However, none of this will happen unless businesses vote for it. Our ballot in February 2018 is crucial to the future of our city centre. We urge you to read this proposal and give it serious consideration. If you feel it offers a genuine prospect of improving your commercial life here in Chelmsford, please support us with a positive vote for One Chelmsford. Neil Ridley, Bond Street Chair, One Chelmsford BID Steering Group These proposals have been put together by a varied steering group of Chelmsford businesses following wider consultations Neil Ridley Bond Street Sean Manley Toni & Guy Sue Patel The Meadows Gary Ridgeon Marks & Spencer Nick Halle Pubwatch/CTZN Bar Mick McDonagh High Chelmer Laura Rawstron John Lewis Brett Sanders Golden Fleece Susan Emma Griffiths Can Bridge Management Spencer Davis Gepps & Sons Solicitors Clare Broome Chelmsford Cathedral Cllr Dick Madden Chelmsford City Council and Essex County Council Stephen Rogers Chelmsford Star Coop Ahmet Mustafa McDonalds Michael Wray Chelmsford City Council Pam Parkes Essex County Council Jonathan Betteridge Debenhams

3 bringing a new attitude to our new city Over the last few years Chelmsford has been undergoing a renaissance in line with its new city status, with significant investments in office space and new retail areas such as Bond Street, a new leisure centre in the pipeline and thousands of new homes being built. Just 35 minutes from central London by train, Chelmsford s location can make it an attractive place, but it also means it needs to be competitive to retain businesses, visitors and staff. One Chelmsford believes we need to take advantage of this momentum to cement Chelmsford s increasing confidence as the county s premier business and leisure destination. It is proposing a Business Improvement District as a way to give businesses the power to address issues they face and to give businesses a strong voice in Chelmsford s future development. you said Over 270 locations across the UK have already chosen to setup a BID to help them thrive, including major nearby centres such as Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich. The rest of this document outlines One Chelmsford Business Improvement District s proposals to address businesses desires. By voting YES to these proposals we can achieve significant benefits. More attractive environment for employees Average UK cost of replacing staff Lost output: 25k Recruitment: 5k Joint procurement savings on business services BID schemes elsewhere have shown savings for individual businesses of up to 4% of rateable value The One Chelmsford steering group has consulted over 100 businesses face to face about the issues they face and their opinions on a Business Improvement District, as well as holding an open visioning event. Key themes were: 70% of businesses thought a minority of their visitors were attracted from outside Chelmsford Welcoming Streets Tackling nuisance behaviours and shoplifting and addressing empty shops City Promotion And better visitor information benefits Improved cleanliness Increasing footfall, dwell-time and spend Reducing shoplifting and ASB Support for small business, for example with business rate reviews Enhancing Chelmsford s reputation Increased networking opportunities, business seminars etc costs Cost to businesses levy of 1.5% of rateable value Events Converting big local events into benefits for the city centre Business Support Savings and support for businesses A stronger voice representing businesses Opportunities for CSR and involvement in events Intelligence Local information and business intelligence Travel Experience In particular traffic and the cost of parking Staff Providing a great place for staff to work Enhanced public realm and more interesting use of the rivers Provision of key business intelligence like visitor data

4 here s what one chelmsford will focus on: theme 1 - destination chelmsford Chelmsford s image is important for all its businesses. For our retailers and leisure businesses it means more visitors and more spend. For our office and commercial sector it means a more attractive offer for the talented workforce we need. We will work in the following areas to ensure Chelmsford remains seen as Essex s number one destination for visitors and employees. Marketing We will coordinate a marketing strategy that brings together and enhances the efforts of different partners in the city, including: A brand and PR campaign for the city centre to cement Chelmsford as the premier destination in the region. We will ensure positive advertisement through various channels including digital, print, and outdoor media. We will help businesses to present a positive image on social media and do the same for Chelmsford as a whole. A digital strategy for Chelmsford s online presence, ensuring that key central sites such as Visit Chelmsford include extensive and up to date information, for example on what s on Filling existing gaps in printed and digital visitor information and improving the distribution of visitor information in locations across the city, particularly at entrance hubs like car parks and the train station. Running an incentive scheme targeted at employees and residents with exclusive City Centre offers. Events Chelmsford already has a number of successful events. We want to ensure that major events bring greater benefits to the City Centre. We will work with partners such as local festivals and the Council to help convert local events into higher footfall, spend and profile for the citycentre, and provide opportunities for businesses to be involved We will work closely with the City Council to maximise benefits from the High Street market and explore options such as temporary specialist markets. I have seen the benefits of a BID first hand during my role as a Director on the board of the BID in Bury St Edmunds. We were able to actively influence and take part in supporting and developing the town through events, marketing and supporting businesses within the BID area. I am excited by the prospect of being able to achieve similar things in the City of Chelmsford and can see the benefits it can offer businesses. Gary Ridgeon, M&S We will identify gaps in the city s events programme and organise high quality activities to fill them at key times of the year. These could include, for example, themed seasonal markets, pop-up pontoons on the rivers for performances and outdoor cinema screenings, pancakeday races, street parties for big public occasions etc. An events programme should aim to benefit a broad range of businesses in the city centre and raise Chelmsford s profile. Evening Economy Chelmsford has a successful evening economy that already has a Best Bar None scheme and Purple Flag status. The BID will develop an Evening in Chelmsford strategy to help smooth the transition from the day-time to night-time economy and encourage people to stay later. This could include: Offers aimed at employees to encourage them to stay after work Supporting and increasing promotion of Chelmsford s Best Bar None accredited venues Ensuring a buzz with regular evening events We will also monitor use of the late-night-levy and work to ensure that it is well deployed to support businesses and complement these proposals

5 theme 1 - destination chelmsford (cont) Animating Our rivers can make a huge contribution to the atmosphere and culture of the city centre. They can be places for performance, floating cafes, attractive lighting and greenery. We will run an ideas competition to animate and improve access to our rivers. We will work with the City Council on its Christmas lights and switch-on event to ensure the timing and locations maximise the benefit to businesses. We will organise a small number of well-coordinated and promoted late-night openings in the run up to Christmas with additional activities to add to shoppers experience. Business Diversity We will put empty units to work for Chelmsford, for example by operating them as temporary spaces for pop-up concept stores or community projects, helping to incubate new businesses and animating areas We will support the Council and landlords in their efforts to champion the city to new businesses theme 2 - city centre operations When it comes to the operations of the city centre, we want to be careful to ensure that current resources are being used well. We will work with authorities such as the council and the police to monitor outcomes for the city centre and promote ways of improving these. We will be careful to ensure that where we spend money, it is only to add additional services. Safe and Welcoming We will act as eyes and ears on the street to enhance the police and council efforts to tackle aggressive forms of begging and public realm issues, making sure issues are reported and responses monitored. We also recognise the value of intelligence from the hundreds of businesses in the city centre when it comes to tackling shoplifting or problems with the public realm, so will play a co-ordinating role to ensure intelligence from businesses is shared and that responses are coordinated. For example by running an intelligence-sharing platform such as Facewatch and coordinating responses. We will bolster on-street presence at key times of the year when there are most likely to be new visitors to Chelmsford, for example during key events, and ensure the welcome is a good one. An ambassador/concierge scheme will welcome visitors and also report issues. We will review the need for a more permanent presence going forwards. We have worked with the Council to outline the baseline services, such as cleaning, that they provide for Chelmsford City Centre. We will work with them to ensure these services are effective and, if necessary, we will then provide additional cleaning where required. Accessibility We want to make sure that Chelmsford is as convenient to reach and get around as possible. We will contribute to this by: Working with partners across Essex to build a case for improving traffic management and reviewing the Essex Traffic Control Centre s operating hours Representing businesses to influence a transport strategy that works well for the city centre at all times of day, for staff and visitors Raising awareness of different travel and parking options; encouraging the use of lesser used but cheaper car parks, for example with targeted promotions, and encouraging the use of public transport, walking and cycling where appropriate Reviewing the operations of the Park & Ride and championing changes as necessary, including alternative tariffs

6 theme 3 - stronger business community We will be a strong body to help support businesses in a number of ways. We will create savings through a joint procurement scheme of common business services We will make sure businesses have a voice in the strategic planning of Chelmsford and on specific issues like: Transport issues like parking pricing strategies and the Park & Ride service Provision of suitable business space The Chelmsford Future Transport Network Scheme etc. As business rates move towards being retained locally, we will monitor and champion effective spending and will provide support to businesses that need help with appeals We will keep businesses up to date with a regular newsletter We will provide business seminars and networking events throughout the year and help link businesses with the local community We recognise that for some businesses, retention of staff can be difficult when competing with nearby centres of employment such as London. In addition to consolidating Chelmsford City Centre s recent renaissance, we will develop employee benefits such as exclusive local offers and social-networking events to help build strong local connections. Chelmsford is a city full of opportunity and its success is dependent on all its businesses. The night-time economy is a crucial part of this and I believe One Chelmsford will help integrate the day-time and night-time economies further and provide crucial support to Chelmsford s businesses. Nick Halle, CTZN Bar

7 the business plan the BID area One Chelmsford will mean investment of over 3 million between 2018 and 2023 total BID levy over five years: 3,063, , , ,000 1,133, ,000 Core Costs Contingency/responsive spend City Centre Operations Stronger Business Community Destination Chelmsford The proposals will be responsive to change throughout the BID s term, and surveys and reviews will be used to determine business needs. - Total BID Levy assumes a 95% collection rate - A contingency/responsive spend fund of 5% of the BID Levy has been included - Figures are real, with no inflation applied - The core costs shown here include: staff time that is not dedicated to project delivery, financial management support, office costs and consumables, corporate communications budget, levy collection costs, insurance, repayment of the set-up loan and a recruitment/hr budget - Project costs include an allocation for staff resource to ensure the money is used effectively A full list of streets included in the area can be found in the BID Levy Rules download on our website

8 our operating principles One Chelmsford will: 1 always be owned and led by businesses in Chelmsford businesses can sit on the board or individual theme groups that will be responsible for each of the themes 2 be set up as a not-for-profit company 3 deliver services that are in addition to services provided by the Council 4 be financially transparent, providing regular reports on its expenditure and achievements 5 aim to raise at least 10% extra funding from other sources over the lifetime of the BID 6 listen to our members and their changing needs 7 encourage businesses that are under the threshold to become voluntary members, to maximise the effectiveness of the BID measuring our impact Crucially, we will make sure that the impacts of Chelmsford BID are measurable, and will make our data available to BID Members. We will make use of the new city-centre WiFi infrastructure and other techniques such as footfall-cameras to provide crucial intelligence for businesses such as: Footfall Dwell-time Geographic draw Customer perception BID rules - the basics So, how does a BID work? 1 Organisations within the BID Area occupying premises with a rateable value of 15,000 or greater will be eligible to vote in the BID ballot and pay the BID levy 2 One Chelmsford, the BID company, will be funded primarily through a BID levy payable by all businesses eligible to vote. The levy will be 1.5% per year of a premises rateable value, or 1.4% for premises that already pay the late-night-levy and tenants of The Meadows, Bond Street and High Chelmer who pay a service charge that contributes towards marketing and security. Premises occupied by registered charities will receive a reduction of 80% of the levy 3 A cap will be in place that means no single hereditament will be charged more than 30,000 4 The BID will last for five years from 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2023, at which point businesses will vote again 5 All businesses eligible to vote will also be able to get involved in the governance of One Chelmsford Below are some indicative values of how much different businesses will pay each year (assuming the 1.5% levy rate) Rateable Value or premises BID Levy 15, , ,000 1,500 1,000,000 15,000 Hotel occupancy Crime and anti-social behaviour statistics Car park usage Evening patronage One of our first tasks will be to create a baseline against which to measure ourselves, e.g. 275m Tourism contribution to Chelmsford s economy 83,000 Jobs in Chelmsford One Chelmsford will set KPIs for improvement against a baseline Other Chelmsford 45.4% Chelmsford s estimated market share of core catchment total comparison goods expenditure

9 Q & A - your questions answered Why is there a postal ballot in February 2018? A BID can only be set up through a ballot of businesses who will pay the levy. In order for the BID to come into existence, a simple majority of those voting must vote in favour. Their votes must also represent a majority of the aggregate rateable value of the properties that vote. How will the ballot run? The conduct of the ballot is looked after by the Chelmsford City Council to ensure a free and fair ballot. If you wish to make sure that your ballot paper is going to the right place, you can get in touch with the One Chelmsford team at info@ to find out how. How is the BID levy collected? The BID levy will be collected by Chelmsford City Council in a similar manner to Business Rates. It will be a separate bill and the amount will be ring-fenced and passed to the BID company to deliver these proposals. The levy may be amended on an annual basis in line with inflation, at a rate to be agreed by the One Chelmsford board. How will I know what my money has achieved? One Chelmsford will be clear and transparent about how it is spending the money. There will be regularly updated information about income and expenditure available to all members of the BID and clear metrics will be established to measure its success. All eligible businesses will be invited to the AGM. How can I be represented? One Chelmsford will be a new non-profit company limited by guarantee. The first AGM will take place within the first year after the BID starts its work on 1st April All businesses that are eligible to vote and pay the levy may become members of the company. Any member can stand for election to the board. Can I get involved even if I do not automatically qualify to pay the BID levy? Businesses whose rateable value is less than 15,000, or who are just outside the BID area, will still be able to get involved by choosing Voluntary Membership and paying a voluntary contribution to receive the same benefits as levy payers. These Voluntary Members will have the right to stand for election to the board. How were the BID proposals developed? Over the last year, the business forum has worked to engage with businesses across Chelmsford City Centre to develop these proposals. Over 100 organisations have been consulted face to face, with an open visioning event also being run. A dedicated Steering Group has used feedback to develop the proposals, continuing face-to-face discussions with businesses throughout Chelmsford City Centre during the process. The full BID Proposals are available from our website www. Why do my business rates not cover this? A BID in Chelmsford will be led by businesses, funded by businesses and managed by businesses with complete control over how the money is spent. It provides services that are in addition to those offered by the local authority and other statutory agencies. The BID will sign a baseline agreement with Chelmsford City Council that establishes what the local authority already delivers and will monitor this agreement. A draft of this agreement can be viewed on One Chelmsford s website.

10 make it happen - vote yes The ballot is your chance to secure Chelmsford s future and make these proposals a reality. Vote YES in February 2018 The ballot timeline Early December 2017 voters will receive a letter giving them the chance to review and amend the details of where their ballot paper will go to w/c 10th January 2018 Voters will receive the official Notice of Ballot w/c 22nd January 2018 Ballot papers will be posted. Voting is by post 22nd February 2018 Ballot closes at 5pm 23rd February 2018 Results announced 16th February 31st March Set-up work continues for the independent BID company, One Chelmsford 1st April 2018 One Chelmsford formally starts work for you Gepps & Sons Solicitors LLP have been part of the Chelmsford story since our founding here in 1768 and we are keen to see the local community thrive long into the future. Chelmsford City Centre is a vibrant mix of different businesses so it s important that Chelmsford BID delivers something for everyone. It will play a key role in making sure Chelmsford is a really attractive place for staff to work and settle and will continue to grow the business networks in the city centre. Spencer Davis, Gepps & Sons Solicitors Ltd

11 One Chelmsford is a business-led initiative Find out how you can be more involved, or ask us a question: E: info@ W: www. one chelmsford our new city