The new interim manager of Harrogate BID wants to turn conversations and plans into real action over the coming weeks.
Simon Kent believes the money put into the BID by its levy payers – businesses in Harrogate town centre – should be put to good use in making the organisation one of achievements, not just ideas.
“It’s difficult in any organisation where you have got a board of people all with their own businesses to run,” he said. “It’s easy to sit around agreeing things, but getting things done is another matter.”
In his previous role as director of Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent (pictured above) said he was an advocate of setting up a BID in Harrogate from the outset. It was first proposed in 2017 by John Fox, at the time leading a group of volunteers to fundraise for the annual Christmas lights, and Mike Procter, president of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Kent said:
“There are lots of people in Harrogate with similar ambitions for the town. I saw the BID as a way of moving these things forward.
“It would generate money which means, rather than just ideas, you can make things happen. That has always been the driver for me: it puts the town centre businesses in charge.
“I live in Ripon and I used to live in Knaresborough. They’re smaller towns but they also have a stronger sense of community. They have parish councils that effectively become the focus for the activities. There’s no equivalent parish council in Harrogate town, so I saw the BID as slotting into that gap.”
After he helped to get the BID established in late 2018, Mr Kent was vice-chairman for the first few months while the board at the time was working on getting the organisation established and setting up its ways of working.
Only three of the current 15 board members have been in place since this time last year, with resignations including then-chairman John Fox, who stepped down at the end of 2019 and was replaced by Bob Kennedy in March. The manager appointed last July, meanwhile, left the post within four months.
Now, having had his first meeting of the current board via video last Thursday, Mr Kent says it is a happy group:
“It’s difficult, because joining an organisation where you can’t meet people face-to-face is very strange. I’ve spoken to all the board members for an hour, or two in some cases.
“I understand their aspirations for the BID and their goals. It’s interesting how aligned everybody is. There’s a number of projects and some people are advocates of some over others. There’s good, healthy debate, but everyone is focused on a common goal.”
List of priorities
For the next three months, Mr Kent’s part-time role will be to help move some of the BID’s upcoming projects forward. Although the coronavirus crisis makes it difficult to set up events, the board has a list of priorities which it will be carrying out as soon as it can. These include:
- joining other BIDs to lobby for the coronavirus grants scheme to be extended to any business with a rateable value up to £150,000, rather than £51,000 as it currently stands.
- Investing “significant sums” in deep cleaning the town centre
- emphasising Harrogate’s floral reputation with more displays
- planning for improved Christmas lights
- making the run up to Christmas “really magical” with events and activities in the town centre to help businesses recover from the coronavirus shut-down
With questions raised about whether levy-payers’ contributions should be spent on work like street cleansing, Mr Kent argued that although it is a Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) responsibility, the BID’s money could complete cleansing work over and above the levels done routinely by the local authority.
Harrogate BID wants to prioritise street cleaning, to make the town centre attractive when shoppers return
Asked about the many groups in Harrogate and their overlapping work, such as Think Harrogate, Independent Harrogate and the proposed new destination management organisation with links to HBC and Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Kent said the BID would play its part alongside others.
“I think it’s an exciting time,” he said. “The key thing is that the BID brings is a bit of extra money. The businesses have put into it and there’s a responsibility to spend that money wisely on making Harrogate the best it can be.”
