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09
Dec 2024
Harrogate BID doubles staff team
The number of staff employed by Harrogate Business Improvement District has doubled in the year since firms gave it a mandate to continue.
BIDs are set up when town centre businesses vote to create them. Firms pay a levy, which the BID uses to fund schemes that encourage shoppers to visit.
In June last year, 76% of businesses voted in favour of granting Harrogate BID a second five-year term.
Since then the number of BID staff has increased from three to six, which is the highest ever.
Matthew Chapman, who has led Harrogate BID for almost four years, has seen his role change over the last year from manager to chief executive.
Bethany Allen, who leads on events and campaigns, has become operations and projects executive after more than three years at the BID.
Former journalist Ed Horner took up a PR and communications role in November 2023.
Kiam Taylor joined in the newly created role of town centre support officer in April to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and the summer street ranger appointments of Samuel Ashby and Darren Jevons further boosted staff numbers.
Bringing services in-house
When he launched the BID’s second term business plan last year, shortly before the ballot, Mr Chapman said its annual income was forecast to fall from £554,000 to £510,000 this year and it would have to “do more with less”.
We asked how the organisation had therefore been able to increase staffing. Mr Chapman said it had achieved it by bringing more services in-house, such as street cleaning and PR and communications.
He added:
At the time, during the pre-ballot meetings, the government had just completed its recalculation of the rateable value of all hereditaments nationally. They complete this every five-to-seven years.
Nationally most businesses saw their rateable value lower and due to BIDs basing the levy on a percentage of the rateable value of a hereditament we naturally saw our overall budget lower by around 5%.
When reviewing our business plan and objectives it was clear that bringing some services in-house would be more proactive and cost effective.
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BID chair Sara Ferguson, who also runs Italian café and pizzeria Caffé Marconi, said the BID staff were “passionate about continuing to ensure Harrogate remains a key destination for visitors and a fantastic place to work and live”.
She added:
I’ve been involved with the BID in Harrogate for a number of years now – and it’s been great to see how the organisation has continued to improve our town centre for everyone. The team has continued to develop over the years, bringing in new skills and knowledge to benefit the BID and the town as a whole.
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