Purpose

A BID Ballot is a formal voting process amongst BID levy payers, and prospective BID levy payers, administered by the Local Authority and in accordance with the Local Government Act 2003 and the BID Regulations 2004.
GO! Southampton will be holding a renewal ballot in November 2026. In October 2021, all eligible businesses in the BID area were given a vote to decide if the BID should continue for five years, or dissolve. 92.2% of businesses voted in favour by rateable value and 91.4% of businesses voted by number. The BID therefore secured the mandate and investment to continue for a further five years (2022 > 2027). The BID ballot in 2026 will seek to renew a mandate for the period from 2027 > 2032.

Decision

(i)  To instruct the Returning Officer to hold a ballot in relation to GO! Southampton’s renewal proposals. The Notice of Ballot will be published in mid-October. The postal ballot will then run for at least 28 days prior to closing on 26 November 2026.

(ii)  To agree that Southampton City Council will vote in favour of the BID Proposals in the ballot.

(iii)  To authorise the Executive Director - Growth and Prosperity to vote in accordance with (ii) above on behalf of the Council as a non-domestic ratepayer of Council-owned properties in the new BID area. (A map of the current and new BID area boundaries can be found on page 4 of the BID Proposals.)

(iv)  To authorise the Director of Legal and Governance to do anything necessary for the operation of the GO! Southampton (BID) arrangements.

Reasons for the decision

Under the BID Regulations, the Council has a duty to receive BID proposals as part of the process to ballot. The Council has a formal role in ensuring compliance and has the power under the regulations to veto a BID proposal after ballot where it believes the BID proposals:

·  are likely to materially conflict with any of the Council’s formal policies;

·  place an inequitable and significantly disproportionate financial burden on any class of non-domestic ratepayer through the manipulation of the revised BID area or BID levy arrangements.

The recommendations are in support of the GO! Southampton (BID) renewal and alteration proposal as it is considered to:

·  Conform to all required BID Regulations;

·  Add value to existing initiatives and local strategic priorities, particularly the City Plan, Economic Green Growth Strategy 2030 and the Growth and Prosperity Plan;

·  Sustain Southampton’s position as a regional retail, cultural, leisure and entertainment hub;

·  Support the resilience of the City Centre economy and High Street;

·  Provide leverage of additional resource and initiatives to improve the experience, marketing and viability of the city centre, thereby enhancing the economic growth, with positive outcomes for residents and local businesses.

The map on page 4 of the BID Proposal document, provides a map of the boundaries of the existing and newly proposed BID areas.

Alternative options considered

Should the Council vote not to support the proposal, it may result in the loss of the existing levy revenue of approximately £6.5 million (or £7 million with additional revenue) for 2027 > 2032 as the BID would be dissolved without a ballot and therefore the levy revenue not collected. Without the BID, working with the Council, the following would be impacted:

·  The promotion and regeneration of the city centre;

·  The loss of a dedicated programme to support for levy paying businesses during a difficult trading, inflation impacted environment on the high street, especially across the retail and hospitality sectors;

·  The loss of additional leverage and external funding; and 

·  Damage to business relationships and dis-engagement of local businesses to work in partnership with each other, the BID and the Council in seeking to sustain and grow the city centre economy.