Felixstowe Town Council’s civic and community committee was due to consider alternatives to the Felixstowe Business Improvement District (BID) at a meeting on Wednesday (April 8).
At the end of March, 79 out of 116 traders participating in the ballot voted against the continuation of the BID, which organised the Love Felixstowe festival of arts and music in September that attracted up to 30,000 visitors to the town.
Concerns had been raised that the town centre was not seeing the benefits of the BID’s activities, with too much focus and spending on seafront festivities.
A series of options were available to the committee, including setting up an alternative initiative to promote economic development and town centre activity and working with the community to maintain town centre promotion.
Additionally, the possibility of the authority taking on some of the BID’s functions was also available.
As well as the festival, the BID also arranged summer and Christmas promotional events and was responsible for the Visit Felixstowe promotional website and associated social media channels, which had a following of 16,000 Facebook users.
The BID also provided a representative voice for the business community at council meetings.
In the agenda for the committee meeting, the council said: “The town council will continue to engage with partners, including East Suffolk Council and local stakeholders, to consider options for supporting Felixstowe’s town centre economy and visitor offer in the absence of the BID.”
Following the vote, the BID’s chair Jon Trotter said the festival would not be able to continue unless other sources of funding could be found, with the festivities costing approximately £20,000 to stage, although approximately £8,000 was recouped through ticket sales.
He said: “All these things will not be happening in the town unless we can find additional funding to do something.
“That is what the BID was there for, to support the town and and its various needs and that is gone.”
However, business owners had raised concerns that too much money was being spent on events on the seafront, which were not bringing people into the town centre.
The compulsory levy to fund the BID had also caused consternation, being an additional cost to traders on top of increasing business rates.
Timeline of the Felixstowe BID:
- Pre-2020: Businesses in Felixstowe, supported by Felixstowe Forward and the Felixstowe Chamber of Trade and Commerce, began consultations through open meetings, surveys and discussions to address town centre and seafront improvements, leading to the development of a BID business plan.
- 2020: A detailed Felixstowe BID Business Plan was published, outlining priorities like boosting visitors, increasing spending, enhancing cleanliness and safety, and attracting investment over a five year term (2021-2026) with an expected £600,000+ investment from a £122,000 annual levy on eligible businesses.
- 2021: The Felixstowe Business Improvement District (BID) was officially formed following a successful ballot where a majority of businesses (by number and rateable value) voted in favour; it represents around 280 businesses across the town centre and seafront.
- 2021-2025: The BID operated for its initial five year mandate, focusing on business-led projects to improve the local economy, with an interim board transitioning to elected governance using Key Performance Indicators such as footfall, visitor numbers and business feedback to measure success.
- March 2026: A ballot was held for renewal of the BID term beyond 2026.