As part of our statutory duty, Westminster City Council were appointed to hold a ballot for the proposed new St. James’s occupier and property owner Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).
In order for a new BID to be established, the votes in favour of the BID proposal must form a majority, both in terms of aggregate rateable value, and numbers voting.
The close of ballots for the two BID proposals were on 27 and 28 November, respectively. On Wednesday 29 November 2023, the results were declared for the two ballots:
By aggregate rateable value, 50.42% voted in favour. However, from the total number who voted, only 38 out of 83 votes were in favour, 45.78%, which means the majority of the business ratepayers in the proposed BID area voted against the proposal.
For the property owner ballot, 82 out of 116 votes were in favour with the majority of voters in the proposed BID area who voted, voting in favour of the proposal, both by aggregate rateable value , 75.62%, and numbers voting, 70.69%.
In order for a property owner BID to be established, an occupier BID must be established first in line with BID regulations.
Published: 1 December 2023