Business Improvement Districts
Business Improvement Districts ("BIDs") are business-led partnerships which are created voluntarily to deliver additional local services and upgrade the local environment for the benefit of business. A BID is a self-defined area, in which local businesses vote to approve the BID arrangements; those arrangements include raising a levy on all businesses covered by the arrangements. This levy is collected by the Local Authority and used by the BID organisation to undertake projects that benefit the local area.
	There is a legal maximum of five years within which BIDs can operate as set out in section 54 of the Local Government Act 2003. Any which operate for longer than the five-year maximum without holding another business vote, or ballot, will place those BIDs operating at legal risk.
	The overall policy intent is to support businesses, particularly in high streets and town centres across England, as BIDs have a role to play in high street regeneration: in 2019, 259 BIDs across England raised over £106.7 million through levy payments to invest back into their respective towns and cities. Their role will be even more important in the recovery phase from the current crisis.