Speaker Jonny Noble - Bradford Improvement District (BID)

Jonny said that he was 2012 city centre manager for Bradford from 2012 until 2018. In 2013 Susan Hinchliffe wanted to form a BID but the then leader of the council wasn’t interested. By 2017 Councillor Hinchcliffe was the council leader and she pushed for a BID to be created.

The BID covers the city centre area. Businesses pay in 1.25% of rateable value if their rateable value is greater than £12,000. Although it is the bigger businesses that pay in the most it tends to be smaller Businesses who want help.

• The Soapbox Derby 17,000 attendees last year. This year’s event is on 30^th April.

• Dinosaurs Trail

• BrickAlive which saw plastic brick sculptures of endangered animals installed around the city.

• A Pumpkin festival for Halloween

• A professional fireworks display.

• Bradford Gift Card for spending within the city centre.

• Employed 6 night Marshalls

• Created a Walk Safe app home safe

• Cleaned up graffiti chewing gum and fly posting

• Make Bradford better for business

• Make it a more vibrant experience

• Make it a cleaner environment

Jonny said that initially they used to do lots of small things but these were not as effective as the bigger projects.

The Night-Time economy is growing within the city but there is a need to improve safety at night. The BID has:

Consultation for next 5 year is ongoing and the draft business plan is due to be published in late April. The proposal will then go to poll which opens on 1st September closes 29th September. There will be 3 main objectives: -

The BID is also working on getting a purple flag for night-time economy, which is like getting a blue badge for beaches. It has also brought in £510k from grants for the city.

For more details see the BID web site https://bradfordbid.co.uk/