What will it deliver?
"The BID initiative will give smaller businesses a real voice and help make things happen. It will enable services to be provided
that are not currently catered for, and pump life, loyalty and
respect into our historic city. It will also demonstrate that Chester
has a business community that cares."
FRANK MARNELL, CHAIRMAN,
PUBWATCH
By working together, the private sector can make the City Centre Cleaner, Safer and Brighter. Chester City Centre Management wants us to work together to transform the City Centre into a Business Improvement District and enjoy the returns. This BID Company is accountable to you. The message is clear - this is our city, let’s stick together to make Chester better.
A successful BID vote will also generate a significant boost to the Chester Culture Park initiative. The Culture Park aims to make Chester a ‘must see’ European City by 2015, increasing the profile of the City and building on the appeal of its unique features, including the rows, walls, Cathedral precinct and waterfront.
The success of the BID campaign will empower retailers to participate directly in the success of the project and benefit from additional resources that will be generated to develop the Culture Park concept over a ten year period.
The BID will aim to deliver the following objectives:
Objective 1: Cleaning
The aim of this objective is to make Chester’s streets lively,
clean and inviting.
- Additional hand and machine cleaning of the BID area
- Removal of chewing gum, fly posters and graffiti
- Preventing pigeon roosting, especially in the Rows
Objective 2: Safety
The aim of this objective is to help make employees,
customers and visitors feel safe within the city centre.
- Introduce a dedicated, visible, uniformed presence
to deal with street beggars, help combat retail
crime, help shoppers and visitors, reporting faults/
problems etc.
Objective 3: Brighter
The aim of this objective is to improve the visual
image and environment of the city centre in order to
maintain the city’s attractiveness for visitors.
- Cleaning and painting
In summary the bid will:
- Make our streets cleaner, tidier and safer through specialised services.
- Reduce crime.
- Use research to measure return on investment each year.
- Make Chester a forward-thinking, first-choice premier retail and visitor destination.
Take a tour around the facts
Chester is one of the UK’s top tourist destinations, attracting visitors from all over the world every year - something our economy depends on.
• More than eight million people visit our shops, businesses, restaurants and attractions every year.
• We are one of themost popular shopping destinations in the UK.
• We have more than 900 businesses in or around our ancient city walls, almost 400 of them are located on, or around, the historic Rows which is where the BID is focussed.
• The City Centre alone has an estimated turnover of more than £750m, and we aim to increase this to £1.5bn in the next three years.
How much could BID bring in?
An additional £200,000 could be invested in the city through the BID levy. This could be increased with additional voluntary contributions.
Who decides where the money is spent?
You - the BID Company do.