IN response to the Chippenham Business Improvement District’s annual review 2015/16, which was circulated to all levy-paying businesses earlier this month.

The management costs for operating the BID in Chippenham have dramatically increased from their business plan budget of £57,100 (excluding the £8,400 contingency) to £82,500.

The Chippenham BID operating costs are therefore at 28 per cent of total expenditure and according to British BID guidelines 2015 operating costs should not exceed 20 per cent of total expenditure.

In terms of levy contribution, the Salisbury BID has a flat levy rate of 1.5 per cent of rateable value and businesses with a rateable value below £10,000 are exempt from paying.

However, Chippenham has a banded structure, which means that businesses like Tesco pay only 2.1 per cent, but smaller businesses in New Road can pay 3.7 per cent of their rateable value.

If these smaller businesses were located in Salisbury they would be exempt from the levy completely and even if the levy was enforced there it would only equate to £81 and not the £200 charged in Chippenham. How can this be considered fair?

I will be raising this question with Dr Julie Grail who is speaking about BIDs at the Chippenham BID Business Breakfast being held next week.

I believe the Business Breakfast is open to all levy-paying businesses, please contact Chippenham BID for more information.

EDWARD KIRK

Proprietor

Scholars

Market Place

Chippenham