Business Improvement District Consultants – Town Centre Management evolution Hitchin

Hitchin is a substantial historic market town in the heart of Hertfordshire, close to competition from Stevenage, Luton and Milton Keynes. It has enjoyed the benefits of town centre management since the mid-1990s, establishing the Hitchin Initiative as the active partnership vehicle which remains to this day. Four years ago, the Initiative board realised that a plateau had been reached with insufficient funding coming in voluntarily to meet the higher aspirations of its cross-sector membership. Having followed the development of BIDs from first principles, the board was keen to use the mechanism to lift the town onto the next level through the universal levy process rather than waste precious time fund-raising to sustain and grown their existence.

pfbb UK’s Business Improvement District consultants had previously enjoyed a close working relationship with the Initiative and thus were able to explicitly structure business and on-street survey work which equipped the board with sufficient data to work up its own BID proposition. This was endorsed by national anchors such as Sainsbury’s and Waitrose as well as a myriad of smaller specialist businesses. This in turn resulted in an emphatic mandate to transform the partnership into a BID in the spring of 2009.

Now well into the second half of its five-year “life” the Heart of Hitchin BID has just conducted a mid-course “correction” exercise, facilitated and supported by Chris Hollins which has fully endorsed the key activities already developed under the BID’s business plan and fed in new ideas to under the same activity themes to build on the success the company has enjoyed. Annual review research and professional analysis of the formal parts of the company have formed elements of the support the Hitchin BID has been offered since commencing operations, along with other best practice advice to keep the BID sharp and focused on adding value to stakeholders levy contributions.

Significant Achievements

• Reduction in and maintenance of vacancy levels below national reported levels
• Recent modest increases in local footfall, against the national trends for high streets
• More than £10.4M of additional investment into the town in the last twelve months alone
• Acquisition of previously council-operated facilities such as the market and Town Hall
• The Ranger team and recycling of locally generated cardboard waste has directly reduced business costs