A Business Improvement District (BID) is a business-led initiative where businesses and organisations, within a defined area, are invited to work together to make decisions and to take action.
A BID is a means by which these businesses and organisations have the power to raise funds collectively to use for local initiatives with the aim of improving their trading environment. It is an investment scheme where businesses also take decisions collectively, agreeing on their priorities and how to invest their money to benefit themselves, their staff and their customers.
These priorities for action are identified through consultation with businesses and organisations in the town, and their plan sets out how to tackle them. Towards the end of the process in developing this BID proposal all eligible business ratepayers within the defined area will be entitled to vote on the proposals in the plan.
To go ahead the proposal must meet two tests:
If the vote is successful then the proposals in the plan will be implemented and funded by a BID Levy that is charged in addition to standard business rates.
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A BID can only be formed following consultation and a ballot in which businesses vote on a BID Proposal or Business Plan for the area.
The ballot is run by the local authority or outsourced by the local authority to a third party and all businesses eligible to pay the levy are balloted for a minimum of 28 days.
In the UK, for a BID to go ahead the ballot must be won on two counts: straight majority and majority of rateable value. This ensures that the interests of large and small businesses are protected. There is no minimum turnout threshold.
The Barrow BID ballot was held on 24th June 2021 and businesses in the BID Area produced a resounding vote in favour of the proposal for a BID. Of the 155 votes cast, 105 (68.3%) representing 64.5% of the aggregate rateable value of those that voted, were in favour of establishing the BID.
The Barrow BID ballot was held on 28th April 2016 and businesses in the BID Area produced a resounding vote in favour of the proposal for a BID. Of the 213 votes cast, 165 (77.5%) representing 73% of the aggregate rateable value of those that voted, were in favour of establishing the BID.
The next steps involved setting up the Barrow BID company to deliver the business plan on behalf of the 461 levy-paying businesses.
The Barrow BID ballot was held in Spring 2026, giving businesses within the BID area the opportunity to decide whether Barrow BID should continue for a third five-year term.
The result was a resounding vote of confidence in Barrow BID, with 86.8% of businesses voting in favour of the proposal to continue the BID for a third term. Turnout was 40.65% of the 588 eligible business who could vote. The result demonstrates the strong support of Barrow’s business community for the work undertaken by Barrow BID and its plans for the future.
Following the successful ballot, Barrow BID will continue to deliver its business plan on behalf of the town’s levy-paying businesses, building on the achievements of its first two terms and continuing to support businesses, increase footfall, improve the town centre and promote Barrow as a place to visit, work, invest and do business.
The successful third-term ballot provides Barrow BID with a further five years to work collaboratively with businesses, partners and the wider community to deliver positive change across Barrow town centre.
Barrow BID Company Limited was formed on 1 September 2016.
Procurement is the purchase of works, assets, goods and services for the Barrow BID according to a process that is open and transparent. The aim of this internal control system for the supplying of goods and services is to ensure orders are handled by individuals having skills in evaluating what purchases are required from suppliers offering the best deals, to ensure purchases made do not exceed the budget provided and to ensure purchased goods and services conform with the quantity and price specified in the order.
Objectives of our procurement policy
The key elements of Barrow BID’s Procurement Policy are:
To Achieve Value for Money
There are 2 main aspects that impact on value for money in terms of purchasing goods and/or services:
When involved in the purchase of goods and/or services, Barrow BID will be clear on how to develop an output based specification for a product. This usually includes:
To Act Fairly Towards Suppliers
Barrow BID will try to ensure that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have fair and equal access to contracts advertised by the company and standard processes to ensure consistency in order to provide a fair and open approach to tendering. For contracts over a certain value a tender brief summary will be advertised below:
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