Structure and Funding
Hitchin Business Improvement District Company is a private, not for profit organisation, totally independent of the local authority (although NHDC will be invited to sit on the board as a stakeholder in the town centre in its own right). The legislation empowers the BID Company to legally apply a mandatory levy (“the business levy”) at an announced rate on nominated businesses.
Additional funds will be sought from other sources to enhance the budget for our activities, increasing the value for money your contribution generates.
The sums raised are used exclusively to sustain the BID Company, pay for its staff and deliver the key activities outlined in the 'Proposals' section of this site. They were derived from research and consultation with members of HTCI, other commercial enterprises in the area, the public and the local authority over a full year before the successful BID vote.
The difference our efforts make will be tracked by the extensive use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), regularly audited account trails and frequent communications via email, website updates, printed newsletters and stakeholder meetings. We are also employing an independent agency to constantly review our activities and processes with the aim of ensuring success and delivery beyond the expectations of our contributors.
The BID is scheduled to last five years. Towards its conclusion, the company will either seek a further mandate to retain the BID Company and continue to develop and deliver new projects to enhance the town further, or an “exit strategy” can be brought into play.
After due consideration and careful budgeting, we agreed each UBR-paying business should contribute 2.00% per annum to pay for the BID, based on the recorded Rateable Value (RV) of each hereditament inside the BID area at 1st April of each year. This will be increased by inflation each year as detailed in the business plan.
For a typical Hitchin business, 2.00% of the rateable value of the property amounts to a contribution of approximately £4 a week. Obviously bigger companies will pay proportionately more but very few of the existing HTCI members will hand over more than they currently provide to the Hitchin Initiative as their annual membership fee. The crucial message is that everyone puts into the collective “kitty” rather than the bulk of the cost being borne by very few, as happens now.