Cabinet, 7th July 2016
Item 8 - Loughborough BID
Proposal and Business Plan
Background Paper
LOUGHBOROUGH
If we win another term we’ll invest
more than £1.4 million in our town
centre over the next five years
So Far...
Key Achievements
Creation of the Love
Distribution of town centre
200 businesses receiving
Loughborough brand
marketing materials to
free recycling
65,000 households
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Free car parking offers
Support and promotion
16,000 visitors to Car
through the year
of 15 annual events
Show event
11,000 monthly visits to the
80 businesses on the
Support of DISC, crime
Love Loughborough website
Retail Radio scheme
info sharing scheme
15 new businesses
700 metres of extra
192 extra hanging baskets
trained and supported
Christmas lights
and troughs to support Bloom
Vacancy rates of 8%
Increase in trade for
60 businesses
compared with national
some businesses during
trained in social media
average of 12.5%
events
Lobbied for the trial of
Devonshire Square artwork
Promoting businesses to
the A6 pedestrianisation
to improve street scene
12,000 Loyalty Card holders
So Good!
Love Loughborough
The Success
Story So far
The Loughborough BID (Business Improvement
District) branded ‘Love Loughborough’ is an
organisation whose aim is to re-energise the town
centre by improving the trading environment
and supporting business to thrive. The Love
Loughborough brand has become popular with
both business and the public over the last few
years and has played an instrumental part in
raising awareness and regaining Loughborough’s
‘pride of place’.
Love Loughborough provides a number of services
agreed as part of our BID consultation and
business plan. The plan was created by you, the
local businesses in 2011, as a result of an extensive
consultation process and adopted after a positive
vote when the Love Loughborough BID was born.
Love Loughborough BID is run by a Board of
Directors made up of town centre businesses. They
work on a voluntary basis to manage and deliver
the projects in the Business Plan you voted for
in 2011. Much of that work is done in partnership
with a number of other organisations in the town
in order to ensure added value in everything
we do. These efforts have been recognised and
Love Loughborough BID is seen nationally as a
successful organisation, having been chosen to
pilot many new initiatives including as a Portas
Pilot Town, as part of Business In The Community’s
(BITC’s) Healthy High Street campaign and through
Loughborough University’s innovative research
project GeoTask.
Your BID levy raises a total of £240,000 each
year to deliver the projects that you, the
businesses voted for. Your commitment
also allowed the Love Loughborough BID
management to secure over £500,000 in
external funding from central Government,
Leicestershire County Council and Charnwood
Borough Council, bringing in a spend of over
£1.2 million in the first 3 years.
In 2017, the Loughborough BID will be coming
to the end of its first 5-year term and so will the
hard-won progress we have made to date. We now
look to you to review our work to date and to build
upon this by helping us to formulate a business
plan for the next 5 years and by voting ‘YES’ to
renew the BID.
Remember that, if you choose for the BID not to
continue, then all the work and achievements so
far will cease.
We know that the trading environment is still
competitive. We know too that people’s shopping
habits and choices change so that Loughborough
Town Centre will have to continue to adapt to survive.
Only you can decide to enable us to compete with
other places and the increasing online challenge,
to move with the times and to be aspirational
for our businesses and our town by showing you
still Love Loughborough. Vote ‘YES’ for the Love
Loughborough BID!
3
So Far...
A Message From The Chairman
Love Loughborough BID is currently
completing a range of projects to
attract shoppers and visitors to the
town centre and support and sustain
both large and small businesses. This
could only ever have happened as a
direct response to you, the voters and
sponsors of the Loughborough BID,
and your ideas on how to enhance trading, increase footfall
and grow profitability.
The main thrust of our work, driven by a private sector
management approach, has sought to ensure that local
businesses influence and control decisions about their local
trading environment. To this end, we have sought to make
our town centre safer and more accessible, attractive and
engaging, newsworthy and well marketed so that customers
will visit more often and stay longer, giving your business more
opportunities to prosper.
The Loughborough BID team is working hard on your behalf
to fulfil your wishes for our town centre. We welcome your
feedback, ongoing support and guidance and value your
responses to our surveys and newsletters. Our most recent
survey tells us that you think we have made good progress.
We are keen to continue to push forward, plan for the future
and build upon the firm foundations we have laid. We can only
4
do this with your ongoing support and commitment to a Love
Loughborough BID.
Town centres fluctuate in response to changing markets and
economic trends, and research has shown that they will look
very different in the future. Retail alone will not be enough to
sustain shoppers’ interest. With the added competition of 3
major cities on its doorstep and suffering the same issues as
other towns across the UK, Loughborough will need to ‘up its
game’ and become even more of a destination where people
meet, shop and socialise.
There has never been more need for a proactive mechanism
that can bring together all the businesses active within a town
centre, facilitate a consensus of ideas, create a well informed
business plan and implement that plan with a wide range of
partners including the local councils. We simply cannot afford
to lose our BID.
In reading this document and reviewing our success to date,
we would ask you to have an eye to the future. We need your
help in shaping plans for Loughborough over the next 5 years.
In addition, it is crucial that you vote ‘YES’ to the next Love
Loughborough BID when the ballot takes place later this year.
David Pagett-Wright
Love your business, Love Loughborough.
So Good!
The Santa Fun Run moved to the town centre
What is a Business
Improvement District (BID)?
A Business Improvement District or BID is an arrangement whereby businesses collaborate to decide
what services and improvements (in addition to those already provided) they wish to make in their
location, how they are going to manage and deliver those improvements, and what they are prepared
to pay to make them happen. This information forms a business plan that will be voted upon by all
prospective levy payers. If the majority vote ‘YES’ by both number and rateable value, a BID is created.
The BID company exists for a maximum of 5 years and must spend the funding raised within the BID
area and in accordance with the agreed business plan.
An Investment
In Your Business
The Funding - Your
Money, Your Say
This document aims to both review the success of the Love
Loughborough BID and also offer the opportunity to all in
the BID area to secure a second term for the BID. A chance
to invest over £1.4 million over the next 5 years to secure the
firm foundation we have laid and to build upon it. Together
we can continue to improve footfall, increase sales, reduce
business costs and not only sustain the town centre but be
aspirational for it and our businesses.
Many town centres are deciding to adopt this private sector
management model called BIDs to better implement
the wishes and needs of their business community. Love
Loughborough is an example of this and is funded by
businesses in the area who pay a levy (1.5% of their rateable
value). That money is ring-fenced and can only be spent
within the BID area on the projects agreed and voted upon
in the business plan. The levy has nothing to do with normal
business rates (these pass straight to the government). Those
services that public agencies are required to provide as part
of your business rates are baselined and BID money cannot
substitute or replace these.
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So Far...
The BID Company
The Love Loughborough BID is managed by a Board of Directors
drawn from local large and small businesses from within the BID
area. It is a private, not-for-profit, independent company. Any
levy payer is eligible to become a member of the BID company
and can then be put forward to serve as a Director of the BID.
The Vote
We want Loughborough not only to sustain
its current level of success but to be a
market leader and example of best practice
If you are eligible to pay the levy, you are eligible to vote, so
you decide. Of those that vote, if a majority of businesses vote
in favour of the BID by number and by total rateable value, the
levy will be mandatory on all businesses in the BID area. The
proposal may exempt some businesses (e.g. those with a very
low rateable value or certain charities) but they will then not
have a vote.
as a town centre. As a starting point, it is
What Happens if it is a
‘NO’ Vote
With that in mind, we would be grateful if
If you do not vote ‘YES’, then Love Loughborough BID will simply
cease to exist on 31 January 2017. All of the services such as free
recycling, projects and additional funding, along with all the
marketing, events and promotional activities including the Love
Loughborough website, will stop immediately at that time.
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Tell Us What You
Want for the Next
5 Years
important we know what has worked well
for you to date and what needs further
improvement. It is your ideas and feedback
that will form the basis and content of our
next BID business plan.
you could complete our survey and return
it by Friday 18th March.
You can also complete the survey online
by visiting our website:
www.loveloughborough.co.uk/again
So Good!
16,000 visitors to the Car Show
>
Jenny Smith and Jane Platts, The Deli at 58
As new business owners, we find that the
Love Loughborough BID provide a valuable
support network.
We also find the regular meetings useful as it
gives you an opportunity to meet other business
owners and to hear about and discuss future
developments for Loughborough.
>
Steve Hopper, Plan Burrito and Half Bake & Shake
I have nothing but positive things to say
I also joined the Love Loughborough
about the BID scheme in Loughborough.
Loyalty Card programme where it helps
As a small business owner, I have had
bring in new faces and again push our
a one-on-one response from the team.
business to be more established within
They introduced us to the free recycling
the Loughborough area.
scheme which is a very reliable service.
They also helped us with connections
within different sectors of the Council
and the University to help us promote
our business.
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So Far...
Our Achievements
Vote ‘YES’ for Love Loughborough BID to
see these services and projects continue.
Much of our work is operational and addresses the services you, our BID levy payers, wanted to see delivered in addition to
those the local authority provide. Love Loughborough will have invested £1.7 million delivering 30 exciting new business
initiatives by the end of its first 5-year term. Your BID is having a significant impact on footfall and sales in our town centre.
These advances and benefits will continue with new projects for 2017 – 2022 if businesses vote ‘YES.’
Here is a selection of projects and services we have delivered over the last 4 years:
• Free recycling for over 200 BID businesses.
• Distribution of town centre marketing materials to
65,000 households.
• Love Loughborough website – a one-stop shop for
anyone wishing to find out what’s happening in
Loughborough, getting 11,000 hits a month.
• Loughborough in Bloom providing colour with 192
extra hanging baskets and 27 flower troughs.
• Events – support and promotion of 15 annual events.
For example, the Car Show brings over 16,000 visitors to
the town centre on Father’s Day. We have recorded a 25%
increase in trade for some businesses during events.
• Promoting businesses – 12,000 Loyalty Card holders
plus advertising and PR in the local press.
• Lobbying on your behalf – for the trial of the A6
pedestrianisation, car parking and business rates reviews.
• Extended Christmas Lights and Love Heart Lights – 700
metres of extra Christmas Lights. The Love Heart Lights
for Market Place go up during February-April.
• Dressing the Town – bunting and banners to add a splash
of colour to the town centre through the summer.
• Christmas Programme – the Christmas Lights Switch On
and Christmas Programme delivered in partnership with
Charnwood Borough Council.
• Increasing safety – support of DISC, crime information
sharing scheme, COOL, Pub Watch and various night-time
economy initiatives including an application for
Purple Flag status.
• Student-focused marketing – working with the University
and College to engage with the students and promote
the town centre offer to them. We also attend the annual
Freshers’ Fair.
• Business support – 160 registrations on the website,
60 businesses trained in social media and support for 15
new businesses.
• Car parking offers – in partnership with Charnwood Borough
Council, we cover the cost of parking at council-owned car
parks on various event days and Sundays through the year
and leading up to Christmas.
• Improvement of the street scene – Old Bleach Yard link to
Granby Street car park, Devonshire Square artwork and
dressing vacant units.
>
• First phase of free town centre Wi-Fi.
Jenni Platts, Store Manager, Boots
Love Loughborough has organised
Our free mini makeover on No7 with
some great events which have driven
the Love Loughborough Loyalty Card
footfall into the town and into my shop!
has also driven footfall into my store
In particular, the Car Show and
and supported extra sales. The Love
Christmas Lights Switch On resulted in
Loughborough Twitter and Facebook
double digit growth in sales for my store.
always share the Loyalty Card’s great
Working with the council to get free car
offers, letting customers know what the
parking on Sundays during the summer
best deals are in town.
and Christmas has also driven more
people into my store.
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So Good!
Strategy
Adding Value
The Strategy Group was set up to make sure that we didn’t lose
sight of the bigger picture and context in which we were trying
to achieve our aims. We wanted to be ready to react to any
external influences fast and to be able to take advantage of any
opportunities that might be available to us. This group has been
a huge asset to the Love Loughborough BID by:
From the start, you recognised that delivering services was not the
full story and that to bring success it would be necessary to look for
added value. We made this a theme of our Business Plan.
• Securing over £500,000 worth of external funding in the
first 4 years to add to the BID levy.
• Playing a key part in the trial pedestrianisation of the A6.
• Carrying out and taking part in research to better
understand economic trends and where we stand
within them.
• Successfully lobbying local government for a car parking
review in our town.
• Successfully lobbying central government for a rates review.
• Working in collaboration with a diverse number of
stakeholders across Charnwood District to ensure that
Loughborough Town Centre concerns are heard with
one voice.
You said you wanted to see better collaboration and cooperation between businesses to enhance their purchasing
power and get the best value. You wanted more use of
technologies to market the town and enhance our offer,
and better communication on service delivery and strategy
development with local businesses. You also wanted to see the
Love Loughborough BID proactively seek out opportunities and
trial initiatives for the town centre. Our successes include:
• Free recycling service for 200 businesses with 150 tonnes
of waste recycled each year.
• 60 businesses trained in social media as a result of
collaboration with Loughborough University.
• Research – town and business health checks from retail
expert Kerching.
• Business Start-up package to encourage small businesses
into empty units worth up to £5,000. So far, we have helped
10 existing businesses and 5 new start-ups.
• 160 registrations to the Business Support website.
• Regular newsletters and emails to member businesses.
• Monthly Echo newspaper column aimed to keep businesses
and the public informed on projects.
• Membership of the ‘Smart Go’ travel initiative offering
savings to businesses (34 businesses involved).
• Generator Building – Creative Industries Workspace.
We have worked with the Council, the LLEP and the
University to bring this great building back into use.
Applications for funding have been submitted.
• Digital town – we have installed 35 beacons, 87 apps have
been downloaded and recruited a panel of 100 people.
>
Andy Rhodes, McDonald’s
I have recently relocated to
being driven by the BID team. We are
Loughborough to become the franchisee
also enjoying the added bonus of free
of McDonald’s in Market Place. As is
recycling and local marketing. As
the norm for high street stores, we have
a local businessman committed to
found it very challenging to increase
growing his business in Loughborough,
sales and footfall. It was with great
I would be concerned about our future
relief that I became involved with
growth if the BID were to discontinue.
Loughborough BID. We are now seeing
Town centres need joined-up thinking
a steady increase in sales which is
and that is exactly what Loughborough
helped in no small way by the initiatives
BID provides for us.
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So Far...
Enjoy Loughborough
Enjoy is all about projects that enhance the street scene and keep our town centre vibrant, safe and clean, providing a ‘feel good’
factor for you, visitors and shoppers. It makes sense to ensure that people can get to Loughborough easily and that, when they do,
they can negotiate the town centre with ease and safely. Here are some of this group’s projects:
Regeneration
Safety
• Bleach Yard Regeneration.
• Retail Radio/COOL/PubWatch – there have been 80
retail radio sign-ups with the first 6 months rental being
offered FREE through the BID.
• Wards End Area Strategy – preparing a funding bid
with the Council.
• Art Works – Devonshire Square has been transformed
with a 50 metre mural depicting local scenes and
characters.
• Night-time Economy – providing extra support for the
Street Pastors to make the night time economy safer
alongside a pilot for body cameras on door staff to
record incidents.
• Town Centre Signage – working in partnership with
the Council, we have installed tourism and shopping
information columns across the town centre.
• Going for Purple Flag status next year. A benchmark
for a safe and vibrant night-time economy.
• Vacant Unit Scheme – 7 priority sites were identified.
4 units have been dressed and 6 virtual shops created.
In all, there have been 12 empty shops dressed.
• Shop Front Spring Clean – a secure unit was identified
for use for University/Radar Market Town Project Unit
in Carillon Court.
>
Beth Szopa, Loafers Shoes
The BID has given me a great insight
Card and social media campaign. As a
into how the town works. It has also
new, small, independent retail business
saved me money with on-hand schemes
I’ve felt a huge benefit.
and has helped to promote my business
through the Love Loughborough Loyalty
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So Good!
Shout About Loughborough
It doesn’t matter how good our offer or how exciting, safe, clean and innovative our town centre may be. If people don’t
know about it, they won’t visit, shop and spend their leisure time here. Shout offers a coordinated marketing strategy that
showcases our top attractions, takes advantage of key markets on our doorstep and reaches out to those farther afield.
Here are some of the initiatives we have undertaken on your behalf:
Media and Other Advertising
Events
• Creation of the Love Loughborough brand.
• Events Calendar – support and promotion of 15 annual
events. The Car Show brings over 16,000 visitors to the
town centre on Father’s Day. Up to 25% increase in trade
for many businesses.
• Over £250,000 spent on marketing campaigns promoting
the town centre.
• Love Loughborough Website – showcasing the town
centre offer which gets around 11,000 hits a month.
• ‘Get into Loughborough’ marketing campaign with
over £50,000 funding to encourage people back into
Loughborough after the road works.
• Regular advertising in the local press and ad hoc on local
radio.
• Advertising on the side and rear of Arriva double-decker
buses across the East Midlands.
• Outdoor advertising at bus shelters, on billboards and
at the train station.
Loyalty, Targeting and Tracking
Customers
• Loyalty Card – Love Loughborough Loyalty Card scheme
with around 12,000 card holders.
• Advertising at Loughborough University – studentfocused marketing, relationship building with the
University, College and large employers in Charnwood
to promote the town to staff. Ongoing advertising,
particularly through social media to reach the student
market, we also attend the annual Freshers’ Fair.
• Encouraged the Rotary’s Santa Fun Run to move to the
town centre.
• Supporting the Council’s Christmas Programme of events.
• Partnering the new Loogabarooga Festival to celebrate
Ladybird Books centenary.
• Public Car Park Offers – free car parking offers. Some
free Sundays through the summer, free Sundays leading
up to Christmas.
Media and Communications
• Production of marketing materials such as town centre
maps, posters and flyers sent out to key distribution
points and Charnwood households.
• Social Media – Love Loughborough social media pages
(Twitter and Facebook) reaching up to 10,000 people
each week.
• Businesses’ Communication – a monthly Echo column
was run through 2016.
• Footfall Counters – footfall counters installed at 5
key locations to track movement across the BID area.
Student-focused marketing
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Tell Us What You
Want for the Next
5 Years
We want Loughborough not only to sustain
its current level of success but to be a
market leader and example of best practice
as a town centre. As a starting point, it is
important we know what has worked well
for you to date and what needs further
improvement. It is your ideas and feedback
that will form the basis and content of our
next BID business plan.
With that in mind, we would be grateful if
you could complete our survey and return
it by Friday 18th March.
You can also complete the survey online
by visiting our website:
www.loveloughborough.co.uk/again
If we win another term we’ll invest
more than £1.4 million in our town
centre over the next five years
This brochure has been funded by Charnwood Borough Council