Chamber CEO visits Leamington BID Protecting the future of the high street

Chamber chief executive Corin Crane has been in post for more than two years and loves to travel the length and breadth of Coventry and Warwickshire – often on his bike!

This month, he headed to Leamington to catch up with Stephanie Kerr, the executive director of the Leamington Business Improvement District (BID) and chatted about everything from what makes a great town centre through to the thorny issue of business rates.

Corin Crane (CC): So, how long have you been doing this job?

Stephanie Kerr (SK): It’s coming up to 14 years.

CC: You must have seen so many businesses who have got it right and so many who have got it wrong. What is the magical sprinkle of dust for those who got it right?

SK: The businesses that thrive recognise that they need to offer something distinctive and of good quality. Customer service is key. I call it the welcome. If you are a leisure sector business you need to make people feel like they have just arrived home when they walk through the door. A new business needs to see their journey over a three-year strategy, and build a community around their business. We can help them build that community quicker than they could on their own and help them to hit the ground running. I’ll also help businesses behind the scenes to overcome some of the challenges they might be facing. It’s great to introduce you to two new independent businesses today - Gamefinity and Corner Cottage Bakery, who both bring some magic to town.

CC: You also put on events to draw people in to the town centre too.

SK: Yes, we have a range of events and festivals aimed at showcasing the town’s offer that we’ll get businesses along to, such as the Food and Drink Festival. If they are not able to attend, we’ll promote them at the event too. We also provide the enhancements that you see around town such as the wonderful hanging baskets, bunting and soon, new Christmas lights.

CC: The BID was voted back in again last year, what sort of annual budget are you working with?

SK: Our income from the BID levy is around £280,000 per year, and we generate some additional revenue from grants and events.

CC: And I bet there’s a lot of pressure on that budget.

SK: Our income has reduced in the time that I’ve been in this role because the ratable value of properties, which is set by the Valuation Office Agency, has been reduced. BIDs’ income is based on the ratable value of the properties within its area. And, if a retail premises is turned into offices, we lose income there too. We’ve had to do more with less but that’s just like a lot of businesses.

In the future, I’d like to invite more office-based businesses into the BID because the work we do benefits everyone. They can contribute on a voluntary basis but I’d like to formalise that.

CC: I love the BID model. To me it feels like community ownership but when you are conducting the vote, in an environment when people are already complaining about business rates, trying to convince them that it is an investment rather than an extra tax must be quite a job?

SK: It is. We work hard to try to demonstrate value and this can vary from business to business. We ask businesses to work with us as closely as they can to draw out the value. Some businesses will find that they fund the levy cost just from the Food & Drink Festival alone. For others, featuring on the website, Love Leam App or little book of offers is important. For some, it might just be the enhanced look of the town – hanging baskets, Christmas lights, the broader placemaking – or the partnership work and lobbying we do behind the scenes on crime prevention, antisocial behaviour and cleanliness.

CC: A levy is different to a tax. You have to show that value.

SK: Yes, every five years businesses have a decision to make when they go to ballot on the BID. We consult very heavily. We write a new business plan and make sure what we are doing is of value to businesses and balance this with affordability. The levy is carefully set so we can do what we set out, but nothing more.

CC: So, you create that plan through consultation and partnership and it feels like a manifesto then that you can deliver against over the next five years. Get it right, and they’ll vote for it.

SK: Yes, every business can contribute to the discussion and the plan through surveys or through meeting me or the team. That way we can get the most buy-in possible. Business owners or managers can also consider joining our voluntary board of directors and be more involved in decisions.

CC: Is it right that your background is in town planning?

SK: Yes, my original training was in New Zealand in resource and environmental planning, which is town planning over here. I’ve worked in various countries as a development planner and, for the four-and-a-half years before this job, I was in a strategic planning role. Understanding the eco-system of a place is really where I come from. Everything impacts everything else. It’s all connected. If you change one thing, it has a knock-on effect elsewhere.

CC: Is there are difference between the academic approach to what a good place looks like compared to the practicalities when you are in a town like Leamington?

SK: That’s an interesting question. Here in the UK, the Government has been tweaking the national planning system for town centres. The planning use class order was diluted during Covid and for years now we’ve been waving the red flag around out-of-town shopping centres and the impacts of their expansion on town centres. As planners, we know it’s important to curate town centre spaces and to make it a community centre. We have to protect our core offer and, in some ways, local authorities are unable to do that now due to national policy changes. We can’t give up on doing everything we can to protect and support town centres.

CC: I wanted to ask you about business rates too, something that Governments have promised to review for many years and feels like it might finally be happening.

SK: I would like to work with the Chamber on this as we head towards the next Budget. It’s a huge threat. At the moment, the vast majority of our retail and leisure sector businesses in our town centre are benefiting from 75 per cent rates relief. If the new Government doesn’t continue to support that, it is going to be very difficult for them. We need to be speaking out about this now so they understand the critical importance of that rate relief even before they get to reviewing the wider business rates system.

It was 75 per cent this year and last year and at one point was 100 per cent during Covid. Businesses haven’t been paying full rates for years now and if suddenly they were it could be disastrous for them.

CC: The Autumn Statement will see the lines drawn in the sand for the what the Budget looks like for the next five years so we’ve got to do something now. Labour have promised a revolution on this and how you level the playing field between online businesses who don’t pay rates and businesses like those here in Leamington who do.

SK: The business rates system is a megalith of a system that you can never make 100 per cent fit for purpose but, as the retail and leisure sector has evolved, it’s become even less fit for purpose. It has to be looked at carefully but until they come up with an equitable system, they have to keep the current relief in place.

CC: That’s right. The Government can’t see an opportunity to raise some revenue by removing the relief because it could really impact high streets. Freeze the current arrangements and then look at what can be done in terms of business rates in the long term to protect wonderful town centres such as this.