2024 is milestone year: Leeds Business Improvement District enters its 10th year with big plans for the city

Be part of something big. Picture – supplied

With an ‘out of this world’ event this Easter, creating a city-wide version of Monopoly during the school summer holidays and setting the ambition for the next five years, 2024 marks a milestone year for LeedsBID, the city’s Business Improvement District.

In the year of the 20th anniversary of Business Improvement Districts in the United Kingdom, LeedsBID enters its 10th year and looks towards its future in the city.

There are now over 340 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the UK, which are not-for-profit, non-political organisations established for the places they serve. A well-established model of place management, BIDs represent businesses in a defined area and bring new investment into a town or city centre. Collectively BIDs in the UK contribute £152m a year (1) – with this positive impact celebrated in the city when LeedsBID leads a UK BID event as part of UKREiiF’s (the UK's Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum) return to Leeds in May.

Millions invested in city

What should our city look like in five years? Picture – supplied

Leeds continues to boast the largest multi-sector Business Improvement District outside of London. LeedsBID represents 950 city centre businesses and since its establishment in 2015, £26m investment has gone back into Leeds through the BID. Each year it also raises additional income and a tremendous amount of in-kind support from levy payers and key partners.

Business Improvement Districts operate to a five-year business plan, which is endorsed through a renewal ballot by the businesses they represent. This ensures that each BID delivers on its promises and allows levy paying businesses an opportunity to influence a BID’s strategic direction every five years.

Your chance to shape future

This year LeedsBID is asking city centre businesses to input and shape its Business Plan for 2025-2030. Leeds is experiencing an exciting time of development and transformation - a high street recalibrating and a growing office sector are both positive indicators.

LeedsBID wants to ensure it keeps in step with this growth and is proposing an extension of the BID boundary, based on demand and in line with an expanding city centre, bringing more benefits to those businesses based south of the city, particularly in the waterfront area. The waterfront is now becoming a natural expansion to the city centre with new investment and infrastructure already underway.

The journey so far

2024 marks LeedsBID’s 10th year of operation. During that time, LeedsBID has cleaned the equivalent of the Leeds inner ring road 80 times just in the city centre and responded to in the region of 2,000 reactive cleaning requests a year from businesses. Using six electric vehicles, it pioneered its own bespoke cleaning machinery to respond to the growing demand for a clean city centre.

LeedsBID helped bring the MOBOs and the ARIAS to the city; introduced Rangers and Welcome Hosts to the streets; secured a Purple Flag award for Leeds’ evening and night-time economy; it played a vital role in the city’s COVID recovery, receiving grants to support initiatives to assist businesses from all sectors; it developed Engine Room@LeedsBID, a central hub delivering business solutions; set up the biggest free outdoor city event – Leeds Jurassic Trail – bringing national publicity and raising the profile of the city with 12 animatronic dinosaurs and at Christmas brought a spectacular light projection to The Queens Hotel.

In the last year alone, over 400 people have accessed its Engine Room courses, with 460 businesses using free meeting room space. Over 5,000 people attended Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2023, with 11 events bringing 39 speakers to Leeds and it helped 35 giant bears hide in plain sight on the streets of Leeds, raising over £110,000 for Leeds Hospitals Charity.

LeedsBID has developed software which is now used in over 90 other places including the USA and created welcometoleeds.co.uk, a logoless story-based platform showcasing all that is great about the city in a new and innovative way.

The aim and ambition going forward for the next five years is simple - to continue to make new things happen which were not taking place before LeedsBID existed. Its investments in an array of improvements are transforming Leeds for the better, for everyone coming into the city. From those free city centre events and festivals to drive footfall to enhanced street cleaning, free training for businesses, and new Welcome Hosts adding appeal for those visiting the city centre.

The improvement the BID brings to Leeds city centre is only possible with the ongoing support and backing of the city’s businesses, which recognise that without the BID, these activities, events and additionality would not be taking place.

What’s on in 2024

Alongside planning for the next five years, LeedsBID is busy bringing those additional improvements to Leeds city centre. There is something out of this world planned for Easter and a first of its kind Monopoly summer activation, celebrating the city’s heritage links to the iconic board game. Support for UKREiiF sees the BID playing a part in the programming with a Welcome to Leeds event and the well-established, award-winning Leeds International Festival of Ideas returns later in the year.

Driving innovation and collaboration, LeedsBID is animating places and spaces and curating the look, feel and experience of being in Leeds, driving the ambition to make the city the best it can be.

Its Business Survey consultation to collate views to shape LeedsBID 2025-2030 takes place throughout January and February, with the BID in contact with its levy paying businesses.

Find out more about LeedsBID and its work at leedsbid.co.uk.

(1) British BID Survey 2023