Luton BID and your business

Supporting Luton Businesses. Shaping the Town Centre’s Future.

Luton BID exists to support, promote and represent businesses in the town centre. Backed by a strong mandate from local businesses, the BID is delivering a five-year programme of investment worth over £2.2 million, focused on creating a cleaner, safer, more welcoming and more prosperous place to trade.

Following extensive consultation with businesses of all sizes, Luton BID is delivering a programme shaped by local priorities — from day-to-day operational support to longer-term regeneration and place-shaping.

What the BID Is Delivering

Over recent years, the BID has already made a visible difference across the town centre. Investment has included:

  • A dedicated BID Ambassador providing on-street support and business engagement
  • Targeted street cleansing, floral displays and enhanced lighting
  • Public realm improvements, including street furniture and artwork
  • Events and promotions designed to increase footfall and dwell time

Building on this strong foundation, the BID is now focused on delivering even greater value for levy-paying businesses through a clear set of strategic priorities.

Our Focus for 2025–2030

The BID’s current business plan is structured around three key strategic objectives, developed directly from business feedback. These priorities guide how levy funds are invested and ensure activity remains practical, relevant and responsive to change

Through these objectives, the BID works to:

  • Improve the day-to-day trading environment
  • Promote Luton as a place to do business, visit and invest
  • Provide a strong, collective voice for businesses at a local and regional level

How the BID Helps Your Business

Luton BID is here to support businesses — whether you’re an independent operator or a national brand. By working collectively, businesses can access services, initiatives and influence that would be difficult to achieve individually.

The BID also works closely with partners and stakeholders to ensure businesses are well-placed to benefit from major developments in the town centre, including the Stage and Power Court Football Stadium, helping to maximise opportunities from increased footfall and investment.

Your questions answered…

A Business Improvement District (BID) is a defined geographical area within which the businesses vote to invest collectively in local improvements to enhance their trading environment. The mechanism for developing and operating a BID are governed by the BID Regulations 2004 which are part of the Local Government Act 2003.

The BID Business Plan identifies key objectives to be addressed, with the BID team and businesses delivering projects against action plans to fulfil these objectives. BIDs are business led with the Board and Committees consisting of volunteers from BID Businesses.

A key aspect of a BID is to ensure that anything delivered by the BID to the area is additional to any services provided by public bodies. As part of the development of the BID Proposal and Business Plan, baseline statements are drawn up with the council and the police, identifying the services they agree to provide during the life of the BID.

Establishing close working relationships with the council, police authority and other recognised agencies also means that the needs of the local business community can be better understood and acted upon.

There are over 320 established BIDs in the UK operating on a five-year term. Towards the end of each term, a BID can be renewed by proposing a new Business Plan which businesses vote on to confirm whether they would like the BID to continue.

The delivery of the BID business plan is funded by businesses and organisations in business rated properties in the BID area and aims to be both fair and transparent. As a result of the majority of businesses voting in favour of the Business Plan in October 2019, all businesses and organisations in business rated properties in the area with a rateable value of £12,001 and above have been subject to the BID levy. This method of funding overcomes any problem of a few businesses paying for improvements that benefit the many.

Over the last nine years Luton BID has generated funding through the levy collection and additional funding and in-kind support which has been used to undertake the projects and activities identified by you, the businesses, as part of the BID Business Plan.

Luton BID Limited (the Company for Luton BID), is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. It has its own board made up of a cross-section of businesses and organisations from the BID area who volunteer their time free of charge. The Board is responsible for ensuring that BID projects and activities are undertaken in accordance with the BID Business Plan and that activities contribute towards the achievement of the overall vision.

Luton BID have a dedicated BID Project Team that applies a combination of skills to deliver the projects identified by the businesses each year in accordance with the BID Proposal and Business Plan.

In short, this is for you, the Luton businesses, to decide. The vision for 2020–25 was “Support business growth and investment in the town centre and build pride, loyalty and positive perceptions of Luton as a whole”.

As part of the renewal process, we now need to establish the vision and objectives for the next five years. This will be done in the form of interviews, business workshops, and surveys. The findings from these will be used to form the basis of the BID Business Plan for the next five years and on which businesses will be voting in October 2024. This is your opportunity to have a say in helping to identify the key issues and opportunities which businesses want to tackle or take advantage of over the course of 2025–2030.

Subject to a successful renewal ballot, the BID will deliver the changes, improvements and projects over the next five years (2025–2030) which form the Business Plan. The responsibility for ensuring that the BID adheres to the Business Plan as well as remaining financially accountable is that of the Luton BID Board.

It is also important to remember that the BID does not exist to replace the services provided by Luton Borough Council and other public bodies. Money generated through the BID is used for the improvements voted for by the businesses in the BID area and to deliver services which would not have happened without the BID.

The benefits of a BID are numerous but include the following:

  • Delivery of practical projects and activities across a range of objectives identified and driven by Luton businesses
  • Being part of a mechanism to bring businesses together and act as a collective voice
  • Having involvement and a focus on encouraging growth, development and investment in the area
  • Benefitting from increasingly effective working relationships between the BID, Luton businesses and partners, including Luton Borough Council
  • Leveraging-in of funding and in-kind support in addition to the BID levy and which contributes to projects and activities in the BID area
  • A focus on the delivery of measurable improvements to benefit all businesses.

Under the BID regulations the renewal ballot is administered by the Electoral and Democratic Services within the Chief Executive’s Department at Luton Borough Council. In order for the proposals set out in the BID Business Plan to go ahead, more than 50% of business ratepayers who vote have to vote ‘YES’. In addition, those in favour also have to represent more than 50% of the combined rateable values of those who vote. If these two criteria are met, the BID is activated for the next five years and all businesses and organisations in business rated properties in the area will be required to pay the BID levy in accordance with the levy criteria.

The new BID Business Plan will be voted on in October 2024 by levy-paying businesses and organisations in business rated properties in the area in Luton.

The renewal ballot is your opportunity to create and vote ‘YES’ for a new business plan consisting of projects and activities which will maintain and continue to develop Luton BID as a great destination and a great place to do business. If you would like Luton BID to continue, it is vitally important that you vote ‘YES’ so that your view is registered in the ballot.

If you do not vote yes and the thresholds are not met then the Luton BID will cease operations as of 31st December 2024 together with all its associated projects and activities such as our Ambassador, Business Crime prevention, floral displays, events and sponsorship and its collective voice for the Luton businesses will stop.

However, if the BID vote is successful, you will be part of the BID for the next five years regardless of whether you voted or not.