Agenda item

Andrew Lowson, Executive Director of York Business Improvement District (BID) will provide Members with an overview of the projects and initiatives the BID is undertaking in the city.

The Executive Director of York Business Improvement District (BID) provided Members with an overview of the projects and initiatives that the BID was undertaking in the city and highlighted the following points:

·        The BID was a limited company funded by 1100 members.

·        The BID covered a range of activities such as the street rangers, street cleansing and York Winter lights. Part of their current activities included working with CYC and York Civic Trust on way finding.

·        The number of large vacant units in the city was of concern and BID had tried to engage with landlords to address this. The continued growth of online retail was one of the reasons attributed .

·        The amount of visible drug taking in the city was problematic and its impact on tourism was discussed. It was noted that a response to this was needed.

·        The BID’s good relationships with trade associations in York was noted.

·        the Executive Director confirmed that car parking was one of BID’s top priorities and that  BID was working with CYC on a car parking strategy.

·        Future activity for the BID included work on communications (encouraging residents in York and within a 15 mile radius of York to spend in York shops), business cost savings (for which specialists had been brought in); and a focus on the months of February and March which were particularly challenging for retailers.

Having noted the excellent work of the BID, in particular the work of the street rangers, Members then made comments and asked a number of questions:

·        In response to a question regarding BID support to business and trading associations, the Executive Director explained that BID had funded Spark:York’s planning application but had not funded any further requests for support from them. BID had also given out a number of small grants and had committed a sum of money to a larger project.

·        The Executive Director acknowledged the concerns raised by Members related to street cleaning on Micklegate. He confirmed that BID had been working with staff to minimise disruption caused by street cleaning and that it was the role of their Operation Manager to check on the work of their contractors.

·        In relation to the public realm and the removal of the toilet block on St Sampson’s Square, a Member noted that this was the only covered cycle parking in the city centre. The Executive Director advised that consultation with York Civic Trust was being undertaken and a plan was in place to address this.

·        In the context of encouraging people living within a 15 mile radius to shop in York, a number of suggestions were made to encourage travel by park and ride and how loyalty schemes could be used to promote this. The importance of investment in technology for this was also noted.

·        Citing the budget cuts in public health, particularly in relation to drug and alcohol abuse support services, a Member asked which organisation undertook the clean up of drug taking. The Executive Director explained that it was a complex picture and whilst the street rangers had the relevant PPE to dispose of drug paraphernalia, they were not trained to work with drug users. The street rangers were well connected with the support available for homeless people although some of this work was not within the remit of the street rangers. The Executive Director suggested there needed to be some short term action on this. The Chair noted the importance of those concerns being fed back to the Health, Housing and Adult Social Care Policy & Scrutiny Committee, in line with the consensus of the Committee.

The Executive Director was thanked for his update.

Resolved:  That Members note the York Business Improvement

District (BID) update.

Reason:     In order to be kept up to date on the work of York BID.