Members of Sutton’s business community gathered at the House of Lords on Thursday last week to promote an ambitious plan to create a Business Improvement District (BID) in Beddington.
A BID is a business-led and business funded body formed to improve a defined commercial area.
In Beddington, a consortium of local businesses is working together to create a business plan to help target improvements in their area.
If a majority of businesses vote yes in the BID ballot in September this year the BID will be established and the business plan will be implemented.
If the BID ballot is successful, the council will help the businesses by collecting the levy on their behalf before passing it on in full to the BID so that they can make the improvements set out in their business plan.
The BID development is being jointly funded by Sutton Council and the Greater London Authority (GLA). The council’s economic arm Opportunity Sutton is supporting the potential BID as it recognises that this is crucial in helping to strengthen the local economy.
Local businesses are best placed to identify the improvements which are needed to help them flourish and this approach has the council’s full support. This kind of partnership arrangement can also lead to securing additional investment in an area which in turn can help secure greater opportunities for local employment.
Beddington is a crucial area for regeneration in the borough and has been identified in the Mayor’s London Plan as a Strategic Industrial Location (SIL). It represents 70% of the Borough’s employment land and 55% of the total built industrial floor space. It is also a significant part of the Wandle Valley Regeneration Corridor which the council actively supports.
The initiative will build on the £320m of new investment in Sutton unlocked since 2013.
Peter Whitehead, whose family-run logisitics and warehousing business supports more than 250 jobs in Beddington, said:
“We’re backing the development of the BID because we believe it will add significant value to the industrial estate. We’ve got local businesses working together with Sutton Council to find ways to improve the area we work in. The district will increase the incentives for new companies and employees to come to the area. We can only improve things by working together. We are aware of the improvements secured by the Kimpton BID which has done really well – we want to follow their lead.
“We’re very busy at the moment: we’re seeing a marketplace which is a lot more vibrant. There’s more enthusiasm from local businesses. We had to baton down the hatches during the recession like everyone else but things are changing for the better. So the Beddington BID would enable all of us to capitalise on the recovery.”
Businesses in the area will vote in September 2015 on whether the BID should go ahead.
If successful, it will be the third in the borough after KIPPA, which covers the Kimpton industrial estate, and Successful Sutton which covers the borough’s main retail area.
To date, only six industrial BIDs have been created in London.
Cllr Jayne McCoy, Chair of the Housing, Economy & Business Committee, said:
“Business Improvement Districts give businesses the power to improve their local area. We’ve already seen how effective they can be with the KIPPA at Kimpton Industrial Estate and Successful Sutton in Sutton Town Centre, both of which help attract investment to the area.
“We are delighted to be supporting the BID process in Beddington.”