The people behind a scheme to help local businesses in Carmarthen which has resulted in bailiffs turning up at shops have responded to critics and insisted that the project can and will work.
Carmarthen BID (Business Improvement District) was set up in 2020 after a consultation period and a vote which saw 65% of those balloted backing the scheme. It sees eligible businesses (those with a rateable value of over £6,000) pay 1.5% of their rateable value on top of business rates, every year for five years. You can keep up to date with the latest Carmarthenshire news by signing up to the local newsletter here.
This then creates a pot of money to be spent by the BID management - with the aim being to improve the town centre area of Carmarthen and make it more attractive to visitors and more profitable as somewhere to trade for businesses. The controversy which has ignited since the BID was set up is based on a number of factors, some of which were not helped by the Covid pandemic and the national lockdown which came into force in March, 2020 - after the BID ballot had been completed and as the scheme was in the process of being implemented.
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Many have been critical of the BID, alleging that the ballot process itself was flawed, with dozens of businesses being represented in court in March this year as part of a class action calling for the BID itself to be scrapped, a process which is still ongoing. You can read more about that here.
Those businesses had their cases and levies owed adjourned, but BID management said that, although they were awaiting the outcome of that process, they were “satisfied that all appropriate procedures have been followed and that the court will find in the BID’s favour allowing the levy payments to be recovered”.
Some businesses not represented in court, which have not paid fees for being a part of the BID were visited by bailiffs last week, including a charity shop in the centre of Carmarthen. One business owner said they were left “disgusted” by the situation, claiming that the BID offered “no benefit at all” to traders, and that the way it had been handled had been “terrible”.
In light of the controversy, two of the key people driving Carmarthen BID have now spoken out in an attempt to assure businesses that the scheme was not only set up correctly, but that it is benefitting the town and will continue to do so.
Having started in 2020, the BID is only in place for five years, meaning it will naturally come to an end in 2025 when another ballot will take place and the 423 businesses that make up the BID area - which stretches from the top of Lammas Street to the bottom of King Street and extends south to The Quay area and north to include St Catherine's Walk shopping centre - will have the opportunity to vote on whether they want it to continue into a second term (another five years).
The chair of Carmarthen BID is Paul Raven, and the BID manager is Matthew Newbold, who has previously held that position at another BID scheme further north in Aberystwyth. They are both adamant that every business in Carmarthen sent correspondence relating to business rates was sent a ballot for the BID by post - whether to its business address, the home or nominated address of the proprietor, or to the head office which in some cases was located elsewhere other than Carmarthen. Admitting that controversy surrounding the scheme had recently overshadowed what it was trying to achieve, Mr Raven and Mr Newbold have sought to clarify a number of points. They have stressed that:
- 190 businesses within the proposed BID area (see map below) fed into the consultation in March, 2017, of which 150 (79%) thought setting up Carmarthen BID was a good idea. Twelve were not in favour, and the rest were unsure
- Carmarthen Chamber of Trade and Commerce supported the consultation and the proposal that Carmarthen should seek to gain BID status. Chamber members undertook the initial groundwork to initiate this process. This included setting up a shadow board to undertake the initial work required prior to undertaking a formal ballot of all 423 businesses
- Further consultation with businesses took place across the BID area prior to the formal ballot, when it was made clear that if the ballot was successful the BID would be set up for an initial five-year term, and that ALL levy payers (including hereditaments - businesses with their main base outside and separate from the Carmarthen location, i.e a chain) within the BID area would be liable to pay the levy and contribute towards the funding of the BID’s activities, whether they voted in favour or against
- In January, 2020, ballot papers and supporting documents were sent out to every levy payer/business owner within the BID area - they were sent to the addresses listed with Carmarthenshire Council’s rates department
- When the majority of those who voted did so in favour of creating Carmarthen BID, the board then began the process of formally setting up the scheme, appointing an interim manager, registering with Companies House, setting up a business bank account and discussing with Carmarthenshire Council the initial process of issuing the levy invoices to businesses
- The role of the interim BID manager in year one was largely funded via a separate business Covid grant and this helped to minimise costs to the BID funds
- All BID directors, including the chair, work on a voluntary basis and do not draw down a wage from the scheme - the only person who is paid a wage is the BID manager
When asked if the perception of Carmarthen BID would be entirely different had its launch not been hampered by Covid, Mr Raven agreed. He said: “Within weeks of the BID vote the UK went into lockdown. This significantly impacted on the board’s ability to hold an AGM (Annual General Meeting) and to formally appoint a board of directors and a manager.
"It also prevented the board from undertaking BID activities as at that point the BID had no income as no levy payments had been collected. Given the extraordinary pressures impacting on businesses through this lockdown period, the board asked the council to delay issuing the levy invoices to businesses.
“The invoices were subsequently issued by the council in December, 2020, by which time government interventions such as the furlough scheme, business Covid grants and the bounce back loan were available. All Business Improvement Districts are legally obligated to collect the levy payment each year during their five-year term. Unfortunately, despite the lockdown, the BID had a legal obligation to collect the levy and it was not possible to waive the levy in year one.
“Although levy invoices were issued, the board was mindful of the ongoing financial challenges faced by businesses through the winter of 2020 and spring of 2021 and asked the council not to pursue businesses that did not pay immediately, but to give them more time. Many businesses did however pay the levy promptly and this created initial funds to support the BID’s activities in early 2021.
"However, given the ongoing trading restrictions (due to Covid) the board felt that it was important to safeguard the majority of these funds until such time as trading restrictions eased. Easing of the restrictions enabled the board to hold its first AGM on August 4, 2021. All levy payers were notified and invited to attend. A minority of business owners that attended were against the BID and claimed to have received no information about the BID up to and including the AGM.”
With regard to the last point, Mr Raven and Mr Newbold were again keen to stress that all businesses were sent communication to the address held for them by the council department responsible for collecting business rates. They also said that, despite the events of the past few days with regard to bailiffs visiting Carmarthen shops, 96% of businesses which made up the BID scheme had paid the fees due for year one (April, 2020, to March, 2021) and year two (April, 2021, to March, 2022). The third levy Invoices (covering April, 2022, to March, 2023) were issued in June.
It was only those that had not paid previous fees due, following repeated correspondence, that were chased up last week by bailiffs, according to Mr Raven. “On March 21 this year Carmarthenshire Council went to Llanelli Magistrates Court and requested liability orders against the small number of businesses that had not paid the 2020 and 2021 levy. The affected businesses were issued with a summons to attend court but did not attend. The court awarded the liability orders which confirmed the debt and details were passed to the council’s appointed enforcement agents (bailiffs) for collection.
"These enforcement agents are required to write to each business to invite them to work with them before visiting. Unfortunately, in a small number of cases it appears that the affected businesses have failed to respond to the letters issued by the council and subsequently by their enforcement agents, and this has led to agents visiting those businesses in recent days to seek to recover the outstanding debt.”
One issue which has been raised in the wave of criticism hurled at the BID team recently surrounds the notion that Carmarthenshire Council, as a body, or councillors individually, had a vote or a say with regards to setting up the BID in the first place. While individual councillors may have voiced opinion in favour of establishing a BID, they would not have had any official say or an ability to vote unless doing so as part of a business within the designated area.
“Carmarthenshire Council owns a number of properties within the BID area and was therefore entitled to vote alongside the other qualifying businesses,” Mr Raven explained. “This made the council vote significant in terms of the weighting by rateable value. Some anti-BID businesses regard this as unfair. However, as a result of the council’s own business rates liability, it makes a significant financial contribution to BID funds through its levy payments on these properties, and these funds benefit all businesses within the BID.”
Another criticism aimed at the BID is that businesses have not yet seen a return for the fees they have paid or, in some cases, are now being chased to pay. One business owner claimed last week that activities put on by the BID team were things previously seen in the town beforehand, or things that could have been put on with or without the BID being in force. In response, according to the BID itself, it has “an operational baseline agreement with Carmarthenshire Council which ensures that it does not overlap or carry out any of the functions carried out by the council as part of the services they offer”.
It was also put to Mr Raven and Mr Newbold that some people had bemoaned a lack of transparency with regards to how funds were spent and on what, with a lack of detailed information available about the cost of certain activities and projects at the forefront of many complainants' minds.
In response, it was revealed that those details would be laid bare at the next AGM, which is scheduled to take place in September. According to the BID, the key things it wished to focus on, identified in the consultation which took place prior to the initial ballot, were improving business profitability, the profile of the town, the look of the town, and the parking experience. This includes coinciding free parking days with periods when activities are happening in Carmarthen, and exploring the prospect of additional free parking days in the town.
Other activities that have already been put on include improving the look and feel of Nott Square, near Carmarthen Castle (in conjunction with Carmarthen Town Council), a Halloween trick or treat trail, a ‘Visit Carmarthen’ TV advert on Sky which they hoped would reach hundreds of thousands of viewers, a ‘summer of fun campaign’ consisting of a weekly programme of street theatre and entertainment, free first aid and defibrillator training for businesses, an Easter egg hunt, and sponsorship of events such as the Carmarthen River Festival and the Round Table’s fireworks event in the local park.
The BID has said it will also work with the Round Table to put on the Carmarthen Music Festival later this month, and that it hopes to create artwork in the town in the form of murals. Further plans for 2022 include an app which will benefit town centre traders by promoting offers in a bid to entice locals and tourists to visit their businesses, and signing up to a scheme which will help businesses reduce their utility bills.
Mr Raven and Mr Newbold said they had made efforts to approach business owners who had grievances about the BID scheme, and had already spoken to some in an attempt to appease frustrations and offer clarity. They cited the fact that more than 350 BID organisations were in place across the UK as proof that such schemes could and did work, including in nearby Llanelli which is currently in its second five-year term having initially been set up following a vote in 2015.
Mr Newbold, who was appointed as BID manager in April this year, admitted that the scheme had “not been perfect” but insisted that it could work. “We want to take the opportunity to work with businesses and to engage with them more, to help deliver projects which benefit them and the town,” he said. "We are conscious that it has not been perfect because of various reasons, including Covid.
"I am going to start visiting businesses face-to-face to engage with them directly. We welcome ideas and feedback. If someone wants something done in town then we want people to engage with us, and we want to improve our engagement with businesses. We are not hiding.” Mr Raven added: "The BID is for all businesses across different sectors. The whole principle is if Carmarthen as a town does well then it will benefit all businesses.”
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