Campaign launched for Reading Business Improvement Districts 2024-29

11th January 2024

On 10 January 2024, REDA launched the campaign to deliver a YES vote for two Reading town centre Business Improvement Districts (BID) 2024-29, which will replace the existing BIDs when their current terms come to an end on 31 March 2024.

From 25 January to 22 February, the almost 1000 town centre businesses in the two Reading BID areas will be asked to support a new expanded five-year programme of services and activities to support the town centre economy, provided by the BIDs.

Following a consultation process in summer 2023 with businesses in the BID areas as well as other stakeholders, business plans for both the Reading Central BID 2024-29 and Abbey Quarter BID 2024-29 were launched on 10 January to an invited audience of town centre businesses. The consultation process demonstrated strong support from business for the activities the BID has been delivering since 2019 on their behalf: providing business wardens to help tackle shoplifting; the town centre Christmas lights and summer floral displays; a town centre events programme; street cleaning; recycling collection schemes as well as staff wellbeing and training programmes have all proved popular with Reading businesses over the last five years and will continue for a further five years, if businesses vote for the new BID business plans.

The two 2024-29 BID business plans include activity in the areas of:-

• Social & Healthy - from business networking to staff engagement initiatives and wellbeing activities
• Enhancing & Promoting - Christmas lighting, multi-cultural celebrations, seasonal events and summer floral installations
• Safe & Secure - business wardens, CCTV, lighting and street furniture improvements
• Environment & Sustainable - Cardboard and WEE recycling schemes, energy saving projects, trees for streets
• Informed & Represented - business promotional space, job fairs, training courses, visitor economy and inward investment campaigns

Adam Jacobs, Chair of REDA and owner of Jacobs the Jeweller in Reading town centre, said: “Reading’s BIDs are the heartbeat of our business community. They have punched above their weight for the last five years, becoming an invaluable asset to our community and ensuring Reading town centre continues to flourish as a thriving, progessive place in which to work, live, do business as well as to visit. As a group of Reading businesses, we face a pivotal moment - a YES vote for the 2024-29 BIDs is a vote for continued prosperity, innovation and an investment of £7.5 million in our town centre and our businesses.”

Alexa Volker, Reading BID Manager, said: “Town centre businesses tell us the huge difference Reading BID makes to the town centre, from enhanced security to better trained staff. These services form the cornerstone of the exciting new proposition we are putting to businesses later this month which would allow the BID to continue this work for another five years.”

Mayor of Reading, Councillor Tony Page: “The BID has been a vital part of the economic growth of our town centre and it is essential that it continues to be so, and Reading Borough Council looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with the BID for many years to come.”

Reading Central BID has been in existence since 2006. In this time it has been successfully renewed four times by town centre businesses, many of which are retail and hospitality businesses. It funds Business Wardens, Christmas lights and events, summer floral displays, street cleaning, a cultural programme and dedicated services to support Reading’s night-time economy as well as recycling collection schemes, among many other services.

Reading Abbey Quarter BID was created in 2019 and includes many of the town centre’s office buildings. The BID has supported the businesses through the pandemic and delivered  activities to help businesses attract and retain the very best talent, as well as deliver improvements in areas such as public realm, place marketing and regeneration of the Kennet.

A BID is an area which has a mandate to create extra services in addition to those already provided by the public authorities to maximise the experience for businesses, shoppers and workers. The decision to create and continue a BID is enabled through a vote of all eligible businesses in the BID area, When voted for they contribute a small levy on their business rates (for the new BIDs 2024-29, it will be 1.4%) to deliver the plan of extra services.

A postal ballot of business ratepayers in the two BID areas, based on the list of non-domestic ratepayers, will take place between 25 January and 22 February 2024. Each vote is separate to the other. A majority of those who vote  is required in each area for that particular BID to go ahead.  If approved, the new BIDs would commence on 1 April 2024 and will operate for five years. 

More information on plans for the 2024-29 BIDs in Reading can be found at www.readingbid.co.uk