Kendal BIDBusiness Improvement District

YEAR 1ANNUAL REVIEW

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About Kendal BID

Chairman’s Message

BID Manager’s Message

Confi dent and Competitive

Clean, Safe and Attractive

Convenient and Accessible

The Year Ahead

Financial Summary

BID Company Directors

Contents

Your money, your priorities, your say!

A business improvement district (BID) is a precisely defi ned geographical area of a town, city or commercial district, where business ratepayers are invited to vote to invest collectively in local improvements. These investments are additional to those currently provided by local government.

Business ratepayers are asked to vote on an additional levy to their rates bill that, if supported, will be collected in a ring-fenced account before being used to fi nance the delivery of projects, services and activities detailed in a business plan.

As such, Kendal BID is based on the premise that businesses can have a greater impact and infl uence on their individual trading environment by working together.

In autumn 2013, the businesses of Kendal took part in an open vote. Each had the opportunity to vote, either for or against Kendal becoming a Business Improvement District. In that vote, 70% of businesses voted in favour of the formation of a Business Improvement District.

Kendal’s priorities can be summarised as the 4Cs:

Kendal BID

A Confi dent Kendal

A Clean Kendal

A Convenient Kendal

A Competitive Kendal

The fi rst year saw us setting the framework and foundations of Kendal BID Ltd, including the setup of the Board; legal structures; the delivery of a number of small projects that are in line with the business priorities and starting the foundations for some larger projects, which will develop and grow as the BID moves forward in its fi rst tender.

Kendal BID, in BID terms nationally, covers one of the largest geographical zones. Covering the whole of the town centre, it represents over 700 businesses, spanning professional services; hospitality; leisure; retail and public sector.

Kendal BID is a not-for-profi t company limited by guarantee. The BID Board is responsible for delivering the business plan, as well as the strategic and fi nancial management of the BID. Membership of the BID Board is voluntary and, where possible, representation refl ects the mix and diversity of the businesses within Kendal. Kendal BID is governed by the BID regulations of 2004.

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The first full year of a five year tender for Kendal BID has now been completed. Writing this review has given us the opportunity to both reflect and refocus on what we need to do to achieve continued economic success within our town. Despite the testing economic environment, the BID team have made positive progress towards making our town a more attractive place to shop, work and visit.

We collected just over £155,000 in our first year, which is 97% of the total BID levy. This is a great achievement in our first year and demonstrates a tremendous amount of goodwill from businesses to see Kendal succeed. Spending on the areas identified as priorities within the business plan was lower than planned and we have ended this 2014/2015 with a surplus, which will be carried across to next year and reinvested into future projects.

Working in association with key partners in both the public and private sectors, we have continued to focus on delivering tangible, measurable benefits for those who work, visit, live and do business in the town. We have succeeded in introducing a number of initiatives across all areas identified by businesses as being critical for ensuring the town’s future prosperity. As well as focusing on delivery, we have continued to listen to what businesses and visitors tell us, using this feedback to help shape and form both our current activities and our future plans. This is to ensure we continue delivering what businesses want and need to enable Kendal to thrive.

I would like to thank all the members of the BID Board who give their time and expertise freely and generously. The Board, alongside BID Manager Sarah Williams, ensures that the BID Company’s Business Plan properly reflects business priorities and regularly reviews progress and spending on projects.

Kendal BID has the important role of being the voice of Kendal’s business community. Those involved with improving our town have many challenges, and we believe that Kendal BID has an important part to play in protecting the best interests of the town’s businesses. For those businesses that currently, for whatever reason, do not engage with us, we hope you will after reading this report. Kendal BID is here to operate in the best interest of all, so please share your views and ideas. Your feedback is always warmly welcomed.

This report will be published just as many businesses are starting their build up to the gold quarter. I wish all the businesses in the town a prosperous end to 2015 and an even better 2016.

Best Wishes

Daniel Morley

Chairman’s Message BID Manager’s Message

As a Kendalian born and bred, Kendal is very precious to me, so you could certainly say I have a vested interest in its survival and growth. The opportunity to become Kendal BID Manager and work alongside a fabulous, innovative and forward-thinking group of business people is a dream come true. It is a pleasure to bring so much expertise under one banner for the good of Kendal as a whole. Although there are still some people who do not believe in Kendal BID’s work, we hope over the coming years you will start to see and feel the benefits of working together for the good of the town.

Kendal has changed since I was a child; it has had its rough times and good times, but I just have to take a look around and see the amazing mix of independent and corporate businesses that make it a Mecca for visitors and locals alike.

We are all working hard to ensure that Kendal has its fair share of real and tangible projects that will make a significant difference, but we cannot do it overnight and we cannot do it without business support. I would like to personally thank the many businesses in the town that have supported Kendal BID, its volunteer Board and myself by taking the time to engage with us.

I am looking forward to tackling the challenges that face Kendal BID over the coming years, but most of all, the opportunity for all Kendal BID businesses to grow with Kendal.

Recruitment of our BID Manager, Sarah Williams; the formal set up for the BID company 1

Demonstrating the BID’s commitment to supporting festivals within the town 2

Completing the background work for key flagship projects such as SWIPII and BUBB.AL3

The introduction of a Park and Ride scheme during December4

Working in partnership with key stakeholders on major projects such as reduced Sunday parking

and the Festive Fortnight5

Our five key achievements:

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In Kendal BID’s fi rst year, Confi dent and Competitive had an overall budget of £30,000.

Marketing Kendal to both local residents and tourists remains vital to Kendal’s ongoing commercial success. As such, Kendal BID funded and conducted a number of local radio adverts with the aim to increase consumer awareness of Kendal. These were featured on The Bay and Lakeland Radio over strategic periods in 2014/2015 and reached potential audiences of 99,000 listeners within the Kendal catchment area. A commercial decision was taken during Christmas 2014 to specifi cally target the Bay Radio catchment area in order to attract footfall from a wider geographical zone.

Radio advertising remains a useful tool in order to communicate with customers and, as such, further campaigns are already planned for events and activities within the remainder of 2015 and 2016.

Another useful marketing tool has been the use of the local press. We have successfully managed to get substantial local press coverage and have also advertised specifi c events and projects through local media including The Kendal Courier, Westmorland Gazette and The Citizen.

Confi dent and Competitive

We recognise the importance of social media’s role within our wider marketing strategy. As such, there has been a focus on social media both for the consumer (Twitter/ Facebook @kendalmintplus) and business messages (Twitter/ Facebook @kendalBID). Social media for both the BID and its members will continue to be an important medium to communicate with current and potential new consumers.

Kendal BID recognises both the importance and the use of technology to benefi t the town. Many of our ongoing projects have a sound technological foundation. We also recognize that many businesses need help in understanding and taking advantage of social media and all it has to offer. In collaboration with People 1st and Kendal College, Kendal BID successfully trialled 12 businesses through a social media course (fully-funded the course is worth over £300 per attendee). We are hoping to run further courses in 2015/2016, dependent on the availability of funding support.

SWIPII is seen as a fl agship project for the BID. Most of the pre-launch work was completed in 2014 and early 2015, with the launch in late spring of 2015. SWIPII gives Kendal the opportunity to redefi ne loyalty. Some of the loyalty, power and advantages are given to the smaller businesses within the town that many larger businesses enjoy at a corporate level.

Clean, Safe and Attractive had the smallest budget of 2014 (£5,000), however, this budget will grow in our second year and beyond.

As part of the Festival Kitbag, Kendal BID purchased electrical adaptors with the intention of making the market place more attractive, more accessible as a venue for event organisers, and making activities in market place easier. Additionally, in partnership with Kendal Festival of Food 2015, a number of local people have been trained as volunteer Road Marshals.

Christmas 2014 also saw us working with Kendal Town Council to provide an improved Christmas tree in market place, with added wow factor. Kendal BID have also committed to supporting Kendal Town council with the Christmas light switch on for 2015, with a direct cash contribution.

Plans for 2015, including the extension of Kendal’s Christmas lights programme to include more of the town by providing key infrastructure for the long-term, have proved challenging in regards to getting all permissions in place. However Christmas 2015 will see Christmas lighting extended into Sandes Avenue and Stricklandgate through to Windermere Road. This BID initiative will see more streets lit, making the town look more attractive from arterial routes, encouraging motorists to stop and explore rather than drive on.

Kendal BID has also been a key champion of a new potential Park and Cycle scheme. In Spring 2015, the Board signed off £16,000 worth of support to this existing green project in order to try and gain further funding support from other parties. This funding process is currently still ongoing, however, the cycle scheme sits very well with the BID‘s agenda to see a clean and safe Kendal. It will also allow Kendal to have access to some free parking, potentially help reduce congestion and serve as an attraction to visitors.

Clean, Safe and Attractive

Kendal Festival of Food has grown year on year and in 2015 it was calculated to have generated £1,500,626 for the local economy. We are extremely grateful for the BID’s contribution of £3,000 towards the organisation of the festival this year, as it helped us deliver a festival that received great feedback and generated over £480,000 local, national and international PR for Kendal. In addition the BID kindly supported the training of road marshals for the various events around Kendal and this will help us make a small saving in the future.

Cath Dutton

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The additional funds from Kendal BID assisted in providing additional entertainment at Abbot Hall during the switch-on event in November 2014. In addition, the extra funding provided a much enhanced Christmas Tree in market place for all residents and visitors to enjoy. Over the past year, Kendal BID and Kendal Town Council have worked in close partnership on a number of key projects and will continue to do so for the benefi t of business within the town.Cllr Sylvia Emmott

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The BID has proved to be a critical partner, not only through investing in the Lakes International Comic Art Festival and helping secure signifi cant match-funding, but also in getting more genuine buy-in from businesses in the town. As a result of individual and collective initiatives encouraged by the BID, the festival has made a global impact in terms of comic art events, creating a distinctive town-wide atmosphere and welcome.

Julie Tait

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Many larger profi le businesses use loyalty to grow their customer database, but also to learn about consumer behaviour so that promotions and offers can be commercially targeted. Loyalty has also been proven to keep customers returning to specifi c businesses. SWIPII, which has now launched in 60 businesses within Kendal, will allow those businesses within the town to take advantage of some of those benefi ts. It’s also hoped that customers will also enjoy the rewards and think about shopping and doing business in Kendal fi rst.

Kendal BID has invested over £20,000 in SWIPII so far. Over 7,000 customers and 60 businesses have signed up to this loyalty scheme to date, with over 20,000 transactions having taken place with these customers. SWIPII has been a huge success and we will continue to nurture this project in 2016, to ensure that it continues to bring commercial success.

As reported in our preliminary report, Kendal BID has been working on bringing Kendal its very own gift card. Regrettably, we have had a number of delays and set backs on this project. Given the overwhelmingly positive response for this project, Kendal BID is still very keen to make this a reality for Kendal. We are reviewing other options, including one that would be a more inclusive solution. We hope that we can update businesses towards the end of 2015 on our progress, with a hope of launching within the fi rst half of 2016.

Kendal BID has shown its commitment to supporting festivals and events in 2014 and 2015, both in terms of soft and hard support, such as direct cash contribution.

Support was given to The Lakes International Comic Art Festival through sponsorship of the Windows Arts Trail, to drive footfall and encourage visitors to explore the town. The Kendal Festival of Food has also received some fi nancial support. Funding requests for 2015 have been received from various festivals and many of these have received direct funding.

When agreeing funding, the BID Board has a set criteria to follow to ensure that it supports business within the town, and can demonstrate direct economic benefi t as well as added value for BID levy payers. The Board is currently reviewing opportunities for funding in 2016.

Activities for Christmas 2014 were led by SLDC, with support from the BID. These events had some really positive feedback both from traders and customers. Whilst the skating rink in market place was small, nearly 1000 people used it over the three days. Plans for Christmas 2015 are underway, however a more commercial-lead approach will take place with planned activities, ensuring the best value and commercial impact are achieved.

£5,000

2014 BUDGET

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With the support of SLDC, we conducted a trial on a reduced parking charge for Sundays in October and November 2014, which saw a 13% increase in parking numbers during that period. The BID Board is currently reviewing opportunities to repeat this for same period in 2015.

Over December 2014, to coincide with Christmas, we trialled a free Park and Ride scheme from K Village. The intention was to have some free parking space over December for visitors and a mechanism to link the whole of the BID Zone together. Nearly a thousand people utilised this facility over the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Users’ information was collated and showed 80% were from outside the LA9 and LA8 postcode areas. Seen as a success for its fi rst year, Kendal BID’s Board has committed to exploring its feasibility for Christmas 2015 and the potential for other peak times during the year.

The launch of BUBB.AL in 2015 will see some of the latest technology employed to help keep both residents and visitors in touch with all they need to know about Kendal. This pilot scheme, which is open to BID member businesses, will allow them to populate BUBB.ALs of information around the town and to share them with both current and potential customers. With marketing costs continuing to increase, app-based marketing continues to grow in popularity as a way to communicate with customers quickly and cheaply. This app will be the fi rst in the country to be rolled out to a whole town and can be used to share information, news, promotions, events and local history, in addition to parking and toilet locations.

Convenient and Accessible

The BID Board continues to have ambitious and exciting plans for Kendal’s business environment, extending well into the remainder of 2015 and 2016. Below are some details of what is planned.

Business cost reduction in the continued challenging economic environment remains key to business concern. The current business-to-business partnership the BID has in (helping businesses bring down their fi xed costs) will stay in place for the remainder of 2015 and 2016 and will be available for all BID Zone members.

Kendal BID will continue to enhance our social media platform and has now started developing a Kendal website; working in tandem with other stakeholders, such as Kendal Town Council, to ensure that both branding and feel are coherent and appropriate for the end user. Kendal BID expects a Kendal website to be launched in summer 2016.

Kendal BID will continue to support existing and new festivals within the town, both in terms of potential cash grants and in the way of a developed Festival Kitbag; which festival organiser’s can utilize to reduce costs and enhance the experience of visitors to our town.

Parking continues to be an area that the BID receives regular feedback on from businesses. SLDC are currently in the process of conducting a full review on parking which is being carried out by an independent consultant. Part of this review is to understand the impact of the current charging

structure and whether or not changing it could help economic activity. In addition, an understanding of where parking is underutilised and how to use car parks more effectively will be gained.

Given the success of the Park and Ride scheme in 2014, Kendal BID are committed to repeating this in Christmas 2015. Additional resources will be provided to grow and develop this scheme further.

The BID is keen to develop a Park and Cycle Scheme within the BID Zone.

The BID will continue to grow on the success of SWIPII.

The BID has gained £27,500 through BUBB.AL: to be the fi rst trial in a click ‘n’ collect for smaller businesses. Many large businesses offer a similar service with a buy/reserve option. We will be trialling this at no cost to independent businesses.

The BID Board has recently passed papers for an opt in voluntary contribution scheme, which will allow businesses from outside the BID Zone to opt in at the discretion of the Board.

Tourism has been fl agged as a key area for business within the town with a key mission to ‘change people’s perception that Kendal is a tourist destination’. With that in mind, we are looking to work with key stakeholders to pull together a marketing campaign for Kendal as a key destination of both Cumbria and the North west.

The Year Ahead£30,000

2014 BUDGET

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The following directors resigned during the year due to other work commitments:

Gordon Watson

Abby Green

Christian Hoyle

Financial Summary

Description Actual Budget Variance

Levy £148,940.42 £157,033 -£8,082.58

Other Revenue £1,457.81 £20,000 -£18,542.19

Total Income £150,398.23 £177,000 -£26,601.77

These are the fi nal fi gures for the BID’s income and expenditure for 2014/2015

The current small shortfall in levy is being pursued through the court system, as set out in the BID process. A small amount of levy has been written off as businesses have gone in to administration. There is a shortfall in other revenue, as we have not applied for any additional funding from other bodies since we have not required additional funding for our current projects.

The BID was advised that it needed to have public liability insurance as a company, which was not

in the original budget. Due to this slightly higher administration cost and the slightly reduced income, the administration cost as a percentage is higher than planned. However, the key point is that it is below the benchmark of 20% of the levy cost that is set out in the BID proposal.

In terms of spending on projects, we have underspent in our fi rst year. This is partly due to the time required to set up the BID as a legal entity. It also refl ects the fact that we have tried to spend wisely rather than quickly, and gather relevant data before committing all the budget to any particular project.

Administration £17,406.44 £25,600 -£8,193.56

Direct Expenses £826.20 £0 -£826.20

Levy Collection £10,788 £10,800 £12

Total Admin £29,020.64 £36,400 -£7,379.36

Admin as a % of Income 19.3% 20% -

Available to Spend £121,377.59 £140,600 -£19,222.41

Marketing & Promotion £16,939 £30,000 £13,061

Clean, Safe & Attractive £3,000 £5,000 £2,000

Convenient & Accessible £10,363.80 £30,000 £19,636.20

Enterprising & Competitive £30,601.43 £35,600 £4,998.57

Total Expenditure £61,986.47 £109,451 £47,464.53

Surplus £59,393.12 £31,194 £28,199.12

Financial Commentary

BID Directors

The BID Board of Directors is responsible for delivering the business plan, as well as providing the strategic and fi nancial direction for the BID company. Membership of the BID Board is voluntary and, where possible, representation refl ects the mix and diversity of the businesses within Kendal.

Contact details:Sarah Williams - Kendal BID Manager Sarah@kendalbid.co.uk

Daniel Morley - Kendal BID Chair Dan@kendalbid.co.uk

front cover (top left and bottom right), page 3, back cover (bottom right) front cover (top right), page 4 (top) front cover (bottom left) page 4 (bottom), page 5 (bottom right), page 9, back cover (top left and bottom left) page 7 (top right) page 7 (bottom)

Photography credits:

Dave Willis

Tony West

Hannah Gibson

Steven Barber

Val CorbettBen Barden

Current Directors Daniel Morley – BID Chair

Simon Thomas – BID Vice Chair

Colin Reynolds – Finance Director

John Osborne

Rory Black

Jackie Ward

Richard Foster

Brian Harrison

Derek Armstrong

Cllr Giles Archibald – SLDC representative

Cllr Sylvia Emmott – Kendal Town Council representative

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Businesses can have a greater impact and infl uence on their individual trading environment by working together.

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