Dundee hotel boss on why he's backing a Business Improvement District

The Courier

a day ago

Plans to introduce a Business Improvement District (BID) in Dundee have been resurrected.
Attempts to create a BID in Dundee have fallen short previously, in 2015 and 2017.
In 2019 the idea was floated again, but did not materialise after the coronavirus pandemic.
An improvement district is a business led and funded scheme which sees a community pot shared out to help build and 'improve' areas like a city centre or high street.
The pot contributes towards things like shared marketing projects, installing furniture like benches and planters and bins, to hosting events to encourage people in to shops.
Businesses pay into the scheme, based on a percentage of their rateable value, usually between 1-4%.
Owners with businesses located in the BID area will vote on whether to approve it in March 2026.
And a steering group, chaired by Apex City Quay general manager Paul Mooney, has been established.
There are 37 BIDs in Scotland, including in Aberdeen and St Andrews.
Mr Mooney decided to get involved after seeing how the scheme benefitted other Apex hotels in the UK.
He said: 'A business improvement district is essentially an additional resource that's going to be business led, that's going to have strong transparency and a stakeholder voice to really focus in on the areas that we see as challenges as a trading environment in Dundee city centre.
'One of the first things we will be doing is going out with a survey to all businesses in the proposed catchment area to ask them what the big things are they worry about on a day-to-day basis.'
He said business owners have already raised concerns about anti-social behaviour and security, and enhanced cleaning provision over and above what the council already provides, with him.
'We would be looking to see what events and exciting initiatives would help drive footfall into the city centre,' the hotel manager said.
'We want a better environment that brings people into the city centre.
'It sounds crude, the more people there are the more they will spend with the businesses in the improvement district.
'I've only been in Dundee eight years and I love it. There's so much goodwill and collaborative working already in Dundee across businesses.
'And the BID is almost a natural evolution of that, of us all coming together, being able to pool resources in an equitable way where the bigger businesses will pay more into the pot, (but it's spread across all businesses and everyone benefits from it.
Dundee businesses have tried three times previously to pull together a BID.
In 2015, 106 businesses voted in favour of a BID compared to 80 against it. But the rateable value of those in favour did not meet the figure needed to allow it to go ahead.
Plans for a Dundee BID reappeared in 2017 and again in 2019, but failed to gain traction.
Critics of BIDs claim the schemes can be 'undemocratic' with transparency issues.
In 2021, businesses inside the Crieff business improvement district voted not to renew it.