Why do I support the BID?

I am a businessman that works and lives in Penarth, our company prints for a wide variety of clients across the UK, we are primarily a business to business concern.

I have lived in Penarth for 27 years and The Edge is in its 14th year, I love living here and having our office in the town is a definite bonus. Our kids have grown up here, gone to our schools and enjoy coming back. Over the years I have seen a lot of changes in the town, mainly shops coming and going as happens in all towns. I have also been aware of the constant point that shop owners have made as to the problems they face, the most common one being the lack of adequate parking in the town centre.

As far as I can see the only structural improvement that has happened in the town since I moved here is a one way road with a strange cycle lane going down the opposite way in the road next to Wasons. This improvement did give us around a dozen extra parking places (which I have been grateful for on numerous occasions).

There was also a new zebra crossing and I read in the Penarth Times that two more are planned for Plassey Street. This will be good for pedestrians and the town but not really help the shop keepers’ businesses. I am sure that the reason why this is the case is that there is no person or body actually pushing or lobbying for change. I do remember some years ago an ambitious plan to introduce extensive parking in Plassey Street and a one way system in the town, with the possibility of a pedestrianised area in the centre itself. I don’t know why it never happened, but if it had I’m positive that our town centre would have benefitted massively from it.

So why do I support the BID?

Firstly I have to say the word BID is a bit unfortunate, it sounds like a bet, speculative punt or something like that. It stands for Business Improvement District and that is what Penarth needs!

1) I support it on a personal level

- For purely selfish reasons.

I live, shop, eat and work in the town, I like the choice of independents that we have here and I want those businesses to thrive. If they thrive they survive. I also want MORE choice, I want more shops to open, I want more craft markets, I want a better Farmers Market, I want more places to eat and drink. I am selfish. It will only happen if Penarth offers existing and potential traders the right infrastructure and support to traders. I feel that if we had a Business Improvement District which was properly funded then the lack of structural improvement over the last few decades could be put right and it would be responsible for promoting the town, events and functions so that more people were tempted to come here (or stay here rather than going elsewhere).

2) I support it on a business level

- For purely selfish reasons.

Whilst we are a business to business operation and would not benefit from increased footfall in the town centre we would benefit from a Business Improvement District if as part of its role was to offer cost reduction packages by combining the members’ requirements to take advantage of group buying.

Our business spends…

- On Superfast Broadband £520 per year, because our staff like going on Youtube at lunchtimes

- On telephones £3500, because our two telesales guys keep picking up the phone and making calls

- On carrier services £14500 per year because our customers keep ordering stuff from us and we need to ship it to them

- On heating and lighting £2300 per year because our Office Manageress refuses to wear woolly socks in the winter

That’s a total of £20820. If, through a group buying deal, we could save maybe 5 per cent then that would save us £1041 per year!

I know there is no guarantee of cost savings but by combining our purchasing power across the town we do become a lot more attractive to providers.

If the BID ballot is successful we would have to pay 2 per cent of our rateable value as a levy to support it. In common with most business people in the town I did not have the foggiest idea of what our rateable value is so I looked it up on our Council Tax bill. It is £7500 so the levy The Edge would pay is £150.

Do the maths, even if a buying group only saved us 1 per cent on our annual costs, we would still be in credit on our £150 investment.

It’s a NO BRAINER, any selfish business man can see that, not just this one, and our only benefit is in cost reduction, we do not gain from having extra potential customers in the town centre.

So why would someone vote NO?

- For purely selfish reasons.

The only reason I can see anyone having a justification for voting no is because they don’t want to pay the 2 per cent levy, that’s the only commitment businesses are liable for, if they don’t want to have anything to do with the Business Improvement District then they don’t have to.

Every business in Penarth that is eligible to vote will be getting ballot papers in early February. There are some traders whose rateable value falls below £6000 who are excluded, this is because their rateable value is small and the estimated cost that is being charged by the Vale of Glamorgan for collecting the levy makes it a little pointless asking them for it. These businesses are not excluded from the Business Improvement District, its organisation or its benefits, but in order to be part of its board or the buying group they will need to make a voluntary contribution to become a “member”. Whether or not they do this they will still benefit from increased footfall in the town centre.

I would urge all businesses to look at their rateable values and work out just what the 2 per cent levy would cost them. The average independent business can expect to pay £250 per year – that’s £5 per week, or less than £1 a day.

How many extra sales are needed to cover a cost of £1?

If the Business Improvement District didn’t generate that level of extra footfall it would be a dismal failure, never mind the additional cost savings that will come from a buying group.

No one is going to do this for us, Penarth needs this to move forward, as I said in my letter to the Penarth Times last week it needs another Maggie Knight, and if it did fail, then in five years’ time the traders in the town can close it down in the next ballot.

I am positive that it is only through a properly funded system like this, which will enable a part time appointment of a Penarth Champion that the traders’ concerns and aspirations will be met. As well as giving us all someone who will promote the town and reduce our costs it will make us eligible for matched funding from a wide variety of organisations to improve the fabric and infrastructure of the town.

The thing that I really don’t understand about the traders that are against the concept is that they seem to be under the impression that the council/staff/consultants are wasting their money and in it for their own gain. This is an initiative that started with The Welsh Assembly, filtered down to the Vale of Glamorgan and then Penarth Town Council, the latter two have offered financial support to a scheme that they see as helping local traders to help themselves and as a result help the town. It’s not rocket science, it seems a rather good idea to me.

If the vote is NO then it won’t be a disaster, Penarth will trundle on, but it will be a massive missed opportunity that will mean in 27 years’ time we might just have another one way street somewhere, with a bike lane going in the opposite direction and our Office Manageress will have woolly socks in her Christmas stocking next year.

Come on folks, you know it makes sense, be selfish, VOTE YES!

Dave Noble

The Edge (Systems Ltd)

Windsor Place

Penarth