Mid-year Review: Reaching New Heights

It’s been a brilliantly busy year so far for Revive & Thrive.

We’ve just come off a fantastic result in the Slough BID ballot with a resounding 80% yes for rateable value and 65% for numbers. Without wasting any time, now that we’ve seen Slough through their feasibility and ballot stages of development, we are also very pleased to announce that we have been chosen to stay on board and consult on their implementation phase (step 3 in our comprehensive 5-step programme) into a fully functioning BID.

You may also have seen that we’ve just held our Annual Conference 2019 in Manchester and, as you’ll see in the full review, it was a storming success! Feedback has been very encouraging with testimonials like “Absolutely fantastic, I got so much from it and the location was fantastic, I am still talking about the whole experience now, thank you”. We have a host of regional events coming up in Blaenau Gwent, Wimborne and Slough this year and several to be announced very soon for next spring.

We have also just been commissioned to assess the Bournemouth Businesses Reducing Crime partnership with official accreditation and write them a new constitution going forward.

Early on in the year, we completed a feasibility report for a potential BID for Christchurch. Businesses there were very engaged with the project and we have subsequently done some work with the BID Steering Group and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council which has allowed them to secure funding to develop their BID to ballot stage. 

Having visited many towns over the years, Christchurch is one which offers one of the best first impressions I’ve ever had and I’m sure a BID there, in a county which already has seven BIDs, will see the town go from strength to strength.

The team has also completed successful BID feasibility studies for three areas in Wales where we are working with Blaenau Gwent and Powys Councils, along with local steering groups, to develop BID proposals for the Rassau and Tafarnaubach Industrial Estates in Ebbw Vale and Brecon and Newtown, Revive & Thrive’s hometown. The plan is for the industrial estates to ballot in November and the two towns in Powys in early 2020.

Also heading to ballot in November is our newest client, Globe Business Park BID, which will be seeking to secure a second term beginning January 2020. Compared to most BIDs, Globe has a small number of levy payers and we are looking forward to getting to know them over the coming months.

We are also working hard on another renewal ballot, this time for one of our longest-standing clients, Chippenham BID. This BID goes to ballot in October and we are currently putting together the business plan for their second term, which will be looking to build on some great successes achieved in the BID’s first term.

Also in Wiltshire, we have recently been commissioned by the Swindon and Wiltshire LEP to undertake an initial scoping study to investigate the potential for rolling out a number of industrial BIDs across the LEP area.

Finally, for now, we are very pleased to be able to announce that Revive & Thrive was recently awarded the contract to work with businesses in Harlow and with the council there on a new BID feasibility study and development. We have only just met with the team there for the first time and are already getting a feel for the challenges and opportunities facing the town. Following an initial open meeting for businesses in Harlow towards the end of next month, we will be carrying out extensive consultations to understand the feelings of the business community towards developing a set of BID proposals.

As if that wasn’t enough, we have other proposals for other projects coming together and are excited by all of the fantastic projects we’re currently working on as well as the new opportunities we’re developing.

We wish the BIDs, steering groups and businesses in all of our project towns the best of luck as we work with them towards their respective ballots.

Matthew Powell, Director of BIDs and Contracts