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BIDs, Economic Recession and the Future of Stakeholder-led Public Realm Management was funded by the RICS Education Trust.
Overview
The research investigates the impact of the recession and spending cuts on Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the UK, and identifies the consequences them as stakeholder-led instruments for the management of town centres and commercial and industrial areas.
The objectives of the research are to explore the assumptions that have underpinned the formation of Business Improvement Districts and the impact on them of the current economic downturn and public spending cuts.
The research examines the activities and programmes BIDs have been involved with as public realm management organisations and how they have been affected by recession and cuts. It looks at the strategies BIDs have adopted in order to cope with changes in the economic and funding environment and how this is shaping their role as business-led partnerships for the management of town centres and commercial and industrial areas.
As a more general objective, the research investigates the resilience or otherwise of BIDs as a long-term solution to challenges to public realm management and the implications for similar approaches to urban management.
The research involved a survey of the 100 BIDs currently in operation, conducted with the support of UK Bids, the UK national BIDs advisory service. This was followed by detailed analysis of 10 case studies in different localities and contexts across the country, in which information obtained in the survey was explored in details with BID managers and relevant local authorities.
Findings will be discussed in a workshop with BID managers so that they can be refined and relevant recommendations made.
- People
Dr Claudio de Magalhães
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Send Claudio an email- Outputs
Full Research Report
BIDs, Economic Recession and the Future of Stakeholder-led Public Realm Management (July 2011).
BIDs were introduced in the UK in 2003/2004 and their widespread adoption was linked to their ability to raise funds to invest in the locality, through a mandatory supplementary levy on business rates, voluntary contributions, sponsorship and public sector grants. However, the economic downturn has already restricted those sources of funding, and public sector spending cuts are likely to restrict them even further.
This case-study research has investigated the impact recession and spending cuts have had and are still likely to have on the way BIDs operate, and has tried to identify the threats and opportunities to them as stakeholder-led instruments for the management of town centres and commercial and industrial areas.
Download Report (pdf, 80 pages)- FiBRE Series
The impact of economic recession and spending cuts on Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in England: Threats and Opportunities, RICS Findings in Built and Rural Environments, 2011, in press.
BIDs were introduced in the UK in 2003/2004 and their widespread adoption was linked to their ability to raise funds to invest in the locality, through a mandatory supplementary levy on business rates, voluntary contributions, sponsorship and public sector grants. However, the economic downturn has already restricted those sources of funding, and public sector spending cuts are likely to restrict them even further.
This case-study research has investigated the impact recession and spending cuts have had and are still likely to have on the way BIDs operate, and has tried to identify the threats and opportunities to them as stakeholder-led instruments for the management of town centres and commercial and industrial areas. This FiBRE report is a condensed version of the full final report and aims at a wide range of audiences.
Two more outputs are being prepared as of July 2011: a research monograph discussing the key findings of the research and their implications, and an academic journal paper looking at the role of BIDs in urban governance, its perception in the literature and the reality of BIDs in England.
- Impact
The research has just finished and it is too early to describe impacts.
However, the work has been supported by UK BIDs, the UK national BIDs advisory service, and the team was invited to present the initial stages of the work to a meeting of the BIDs Exchange Network on 19 Oct 2010, to around 20 BID managers. A presentation of the full findings to a larger group of BID managers is being arranged for the Autumn 2011.