Clause 51 - BID proposals
Local Government Bill
10:00 am
Mr Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)
I should declare an interest, which is listed in the Register of Members' Interests, as the director of a family property company. I should have done that when I last intervened and I hope that hon. Members are fully aware of my particular interest.
The arrangements for the BID proposal make it quite clear that a proposal could come from business or a local authority. I suspect that any sort of proposal will be in the nature of some sort of bargain in that a local business will be told, ''You contribute more to improve the environment.'' Within that, there should be some guarantees that the local authority or authorities involved will join that bargain. Retailers could be told, ''Make a contribution and we'll improve the area.'' If, a year later, the council changes its car-parking policy, making life difficult for retailers, puts in one-way systems or introduces a congestion-charging scheme for a central area, that may obviate or offset the benefits of the investment to local business.
As a number of things may have an impact on the centre of a city that one wants to regenerate or improve, if people are voting to contribute additional money for five years to improve the centre of a city, there must be a clear statement of the local authority's strategy and policy for the central area when a proposal is put up. It must be overt about whether it wants to change car-parking policy. I have often found that changes in car-parking charges make a tremendous difference to retailers' ability to undertake their business. Therefore, it would be perverse if, having acquired a majority of local businesses and got people signed up to proposals for improvement, the local authority, under understandable financial constraints, suddenly changed a major part of the business environment in a way that offset the benefits of a BID.
I hope that when the Government draw up guidance, it will ensure that local authorities that will have an impact on the business areas must set out their realistic proposals for the future, so that BID proposals are not offset by other parts of policy and we have joined-up government.