St Albans BID Re-Ballot

As St Albans BID approaches the final year of our first 5 year term our attentions are turning towards our re-ballot, which will ask business to vote YES to St Albans BID for a further 5 years.  The ballot will happen in January 22 but there is much work to be done prior to then and we will be keeping you up to date every step of the way.

There has never been a more important time for businesses to work together to keep our city a vibrant, clean, safe and well promoted place. We will be consulting with our levy payers over the coming months to ensure we provide a robust Business Plan to withstand many of the challenges facing the High Street over the coming years. Thus ensuring all voices and opinions are heard and considered in our renewal.

St Albans is a beautiful, unique, historic city with so much to offer. Please make sure when the time comes you vote for us to stay and continue working on your behalf.

We are holding a face to face meeting at Metrobank on Monday 19th July at 5pm for all BID levy payers to come and learn about our plans for the next term. We hope to see you there.

If there’s anything you’d like to talk to us about now please get in touch.

For BID members-only – BID re-ballot update – hear our plans and have your say!

Please join us for an informal update AT 5PM on Monday 19th July at Metrobank, St Peters St.  We’ll have some updates for you, you can ask questions and give us your feedback.

We look forward to seeing you there.  Let us know you can come by clicking on our Facebook page.

Another term for St Albans BID will help local businesses survive and thrive in these toughest of times

9th February 2021

The St Albans BID has begun the preliminary work on its new five year business plan as the countdown begins to the public vote in the Autumn which will decide if the BID is to get a second term working with, and for, the businesses of St Albans.

In January 2022, the businesses of St Albans will have their chance to vote once again for the St Albans BID. Therefore the BID management are beginning a consultation process with their business members (levy payers) over the coming months to ensure that all voices and opinions are heard and contribute to the comprehensive and robust Business Plan that they will then develop. The Business Plan has the aim of supporting local businesses through one of the toughest of times in modern history and helping them to not only survive, but thrive into the next five years.

Vanessa Sharp, BID Business Liaison Manager says: “We will be in touch over the next few weeks asking for businesses’ invaluable input and feedback on the work the BID has been doing over the past five years, as well as priorities for the next five years.”

The BID has worked hard over the past few years supporting local businesses and the local business infrastructure in many ways: from securing impressive Christmas lights for the city centre to representing businesses at council level; from communicating with the community about businesses pivoting to takeaway and delivery in the pandemic, to even installing a bench outside the museum called for by elderly residents as a resting point: the value the BID brings is both diverse and powerful.

Some of the many specific successes of the St Albans BID over the past five years have been:

• Christmas lights and the Santa’s post-boxes campaign
• Large Flower Displays installed throughout the city and pollinator pots
• festivals and extra markets including George Street Gin & Jazz and sponsoring Sustfest plus latterly, online events in partnership with SADC celebrating Christmas, VE day, the St Albans Food Festival
• A Sky TV advertising campaign showcasing the city
• Waste Management discounts for levy payers
• Championing the St Albans Vision Neighbourhood Forum/Neighbourhood Plan
• The British Crime Partnership – shop radio scheme
• Street furniture
• City Centre trails/ NFC tech
• Lobbying the Government on behalf of St Albans businesses
• Street cleaning
• The Shop St Albans Safely campaign
• Kickstarter Administrator, almost 60 new job postings submitted to Jobcentre
• Marketing and promoting our city centre, with several national TV appearances including an all-day focus on St Albans and its retailers from the BBC News channel
• Station Welcome Signage
• Supporting the activities of community and arts groups
• The deployment of Bid Rangers

Sarah Gillow, co-vice Chair of St Albans BID and business owner (Galio), believes that the BID is an essential resource and support in these trying times. “The BID is there to help us, the local business owners, to navigate through the good times and bad times, and we need this extra help now more than ever. It has certainly been an invaluable support to us all through these unprecedented times when we have faced a crisis and needed to pull together as one community. But hopefully, over the next five years, the BID function will return to being primarily a marketing and strategic resource for the city centre businesses, helping to put St Albans on the map as a destination and ensuring that local businesses have everything they need to maximise all the opportunities the future will bring.”

Cllr Mandy McNeil, Portfolio Holder for Business and a BID board Director, says “The BID, which has been operating since 2017, was an initiative of the previous administration funded by a levy paid by the designated BID area businesses, which include independent and chain retailers, pubs, hotels, restaurants, professional service firms, theatres, museums, and the Cathedral.  Other funding comes from grants, sponsorship, and associated membership.

“Our local businesses have faced the most challenging of circumstances and, together with other stakeholders, the BID has an integral role to play in our city’s economic recovery and regeneration.  Our BID businesses have invested a lot in our city centre and their continued investment via a successful BID renewal will help St Albans to remain vibrant, with lots going on, for the benefit of those who live, work and visit our city centre.  The work that the BID does to market and promote St Albans as a premier destination will help to bring back much-needed visitor footfall.”

BID Manager Denise Parsons said: “St Albans is a beautiful, unique, historic city with so much to offer and we are so lucky that all who live and work in this city are passionate about it.  We will be in touch with levy payers soon but in the meantime,

If there’s anything you’d like to talk to us about now please email info@stalbansbid.com to get in touch, and please make sure when the time comes you vote for us to stay and continue working on your behalf.”

ENDS

Press contacts

Denise Parsons – Manager St Albans BID

Denise.parsons@stalbansbid.com

01727 251310