Sheffield BID voted in for another five years
Sheffield BID is delighted to announce the strong backing of city centre businesses who overwhelmingly voted YES to continue the BID for another five years.
92% of votes cast were in favour of the city centre business improvement district (96% by rateable value). Thank you all for your continued support.
Every business which pays the BID levy had the opportunity to vote in the ballot. Despite lockdown, the number of votes cast held strong and was comparable to the previous ballot five years ago.
The result also showed a 15% increase in the proportion of businesses voting in favour of Sheffield BID. The success of this ballot will see a direct investment from city centre businesses of over £4 million from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026.
The BID will also attract additional funding into the city to greatly increase direct investment to the benefit of city centre businesses.
Sheffield BID will now set to work delivering a new ambitious Business Plan to ensure Sheffield city centre remains a vibrant and welcoming place to live, study, work, visit and do business.
Amanda Phillips, Chair of the Sheffield BID Board said “We are delighted with the strength of support shown by the result of this ballot. Businesses of all sizes have confirmed their confidence in Sheffield BID and given us a strong mandate to push ahead with our ambitious plans for the next five years.”
Diane Jarvis, Sheffield BID Manager added “We would like to thank all our businesses for their confidence in Sheffield BID. The yes vote speaks volumes about the progress we have made as a city centre over the past five years. Our centre and its businesses face some very challenging times ahead and we are grateful they see the BID as important in maintaining and enhancing the value of our city centre over the next five years.
“As businesses are finally able to reopen their doors, the role of Sheffield BID will be more important than ever to help rebuild footfall and support the city centre to thrive once again.”
Note Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) must by law hold a ballot every five years to ensure they still have the support of the businesses who are legally required to pay into them. Without the ballot, and the strong show of support, Sheffield BID would have ceased operations on 31 March 2021.
