Canterbury BID gets business backing for its £3.6m investment plans for the city centre

The Canterbury Business Improvement District (BID) has won its third renewal ballot, securing millions of pounds of investment for the city over the next five years.

The BID received a massive vote of confidence from local businesses to continue its work and plans to spend £3.6m on providing investment, representation and business support for the city up to 2029.

Nine out of ten of the businesses within the city walls, as well as on Northgate, St Dunstan’s and the Riverside, who voted in the ballot were in support of renewing the BID from October 2024 to September 2029.

The ballot, which ran from 6 June until 11 July, saw 93% of the businesses, when measured by their rateable value, vote in favour of the BID’s continuation (up from 74% in 2019). When measured by number, 90% of votes were in favour compared to 69% five years ago.

As a result, the BID team can now deliver its latest business plan which earmarks £1.19m to promote Canterbury, £919k to support local businesses, and £967k on enhancing the experience of visiting the city. The funding for the BID comes from the businesses in the form of a 1.8% levy on their rateable value to support the work of the not-for-profit organisation over the next five years.

After a successful first decade, businesses have now voted to continue the scheme for a third term, meaning activities such as Christmas lights, flower baskets, street cleaning, Visit Canterbury tourism website, safer streets and MyCanterbury loyalty card and gift card schemes can continue to help attract visitors to the city. Canterbury BID will continue to champion Canterbury as a vibrant, exciting, well-connected and successful business community.

Lisa Carlson CEO of Canterbury BID said: “Thank you to everyone who voted. We have achieved so much in the last decade, and I am thrilled that we can continue to build and build on that work to bring in more people and make the city an even better place for our businesses to thrive.

“There is so much we are looking forward to delivering for the city over the next five years, including a really exciting collaboration this Christmas, so watch this space! We will continue to listen and amplify the voices of our businesses, work shoulder to shoulder with them in areas where they need our support most, and we will continue to be bold with our actions to bring commercial success to our members.”

Clare Millett, CEO, Westgate Hall and Chair of Canterbury BID, added: “This result highlights the passion we have for working together as a community of businesses.  We are resilient, creative, innovative, and the ‘yes’ vote ensures BID has another five years of exciting collaborations ahead, all of which directly benefit the city and everyone who lives, visits, works and studies here.

“The BID team has always recognised that each organisation faces individual challenges, all of the BID team and our voluntary Board members work tirelessly to support and deliver activity benefitting all businesses within the area. The ballot results reflect the support and good faith that our businesses have in the BID’s work for the next five years and beyond.”

The BID Business Plan 2024-2029 will invest in promoting the city to visitors and residents, provide free business support to help members continue to grow, and to strive for a clean safe and enjoyable city.

Paul Turner, Chief Operations Officer at The Marlowe and Vice Chair of Canterbury BID, added: “As a representative of Kent’s biggest theatre, we are delighted with the BID ballot result, as we know how important it is for the city. Without it we would have lost so many of the things that attract visitors, and an organisation that brings businesses from all sectors together as a community with a collective voice.”

For more information about events organised by Canterbury BID, visit canterbury.co.uk and to find out more about the work of Canterbury BID visit canterburybid.co.uk