The chairman of Harrogate BID and three of its directors have sent a stinging letter of resignation to the board.

Citing undue council influence, a lack of openness and a business plan that does not reflect the reality of the state of the town centre, the four – more than a quarter of the board’s 15 members – have stepped down with immediate effect.

The letter highlights the desperate situation which chairman Bob Kennedy and directors Chris Bentley, Robert Ogden and Rob Spencer believe Harrogate is now facing. It refers to an accumulation of negative impacts from the UCI Road World Championships and the Covid-19 lockdown, as well as a more general crisis for retail.

It says:

“Without a consensus view on the board of the dire state of the town’s economy, particularly its retail heart, and its causes, addressing the key issues cannot be achieved.

“The strong influence of Borough and County Council on the board of an organisation that according to government guidance is supposed to be a ‘business-led’ partnership means that any initiative that addresses the councils’ input is endlessly debated, and sensible options resisted. It has not even been possible to garner cross-board agreement that the current aesthetic state of Harrogate town centre is not adequate, something that is self-evident to business leaders and residents alike but is constantly denied or excused by councils.”

Chairman Bob Kennedy is among four directors to have resigned from Harrogate BID

The letter then says the original business plan created by the BID will waste money on some areas and fail to fund others adequately. The plan should have been re-written and the budgets re-allocated to reflect the changing challenges of the last 18 months, according to the four signatories.

They also cite a lack of openness in the way the BID is being run:

“From the start, Harrogate BID was set up not to operate in the open or transparent way it should, with addended confidentiality provisions for directors that other BIDs, for instance York’s, do not have and which we are informed are incompatible with it performing a public function. Recent events reinforce this view, and BID is currently pursuing an approach that appears to be more about suppressing criticism and spinning positive messaging than acknowledging the hard realities of the situation.”

Strong council influence

Finally, the directors say they have lost confidence that the board is going to spend its money in ways which will benefit businesses, not least because of the influence of the two local authorities. Funded by a compulsory levy on rate-payers in the town centre, it has an annual income of around £500,000. They say:

“Such transformative commercial imperatives as free parking would be unlikely ever to be championed by Harrogate BID, as they have been by other BIDs across the country, while there is such a strong council influence on its board, and the business plan forces spending on areas that do not address the key issues.”

The resignations come just 10 days after the announcement of a new manager for the BID, Simon Kent. The four directors recognise his appointment and wish the remaining board members well, but say:

“Much as it pains us to state this, Harrogate was struggling before COVID-19. Now, the reality of the situation is becoming very serious indeed.”

More:

Read the resignation letter in full

Where does Harrogate BID go from here?

Harrogate BID was established in the course of 2018 with the aim of giving businesses a greater say in the way their town developed.

It was always supposed to be business-led – a fundamental rule of all BIDs is that they cannot be used to replace the work of local authorities. The blurring of the lines between the BID, Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, however, lies at the heart of today’s resignations.

Harrogate BID is a limited company and is funded through a levy that is paid by all the business rate payers within a designated BID area, in addition to the business rates bill.  The levy in Harrogate’s case earns the BID more than £500,000 a year.

Because its properties fall within the BID area, Harrogate Borough Council is a significant contributor to that income, and its leader, Coun Richard Cooper, sits on the BID board alongside NYCC’s corporate director for business and environmental services, David Bowe. With Sgt Alex Sellars of North Yorkshire Police, they fill the three public sector positions on the board of 15.

Local authority representation is recommended in the government’s best practice advice to BIDs. It says:

“It is essential that you establish a positive relationship with your Local Authority. It is important you identify a key contact at the authority and keep them informed of progress at every stage.

“An authority will have its own plans for the area and will need to appreciate the benefits to businesses and the community of having a BID. It will want to be assured that the BID arrangements complement and preferably enhance the local authority’s proposals.

“Ideally the local authority will have a seat on the BID Board. The authority and BID will need to agree the additional services the BID intends to deliver.”

According to the four who resigned today, however, that relationship has hampered Harrogate BID’s ability to progress its plans for the benefit of its levy payers. After today’s resignations, all three of the board’s positions for independent businesses are vacant.

Changes to the board

In the spring of 2019 in the BID’s first newsletter, the then chairman, John Fox, talked of “exciting projects” to help attract more footfall to Harrogate.

However, in the months that passed, the BID struggled to find a way of working: only three of the current 15 board members have been in place since this time last year. John Fox stepped down at the end of 2019 and a manager appointed last July left the post within four months.

Today’s letter of resignation by its new chairman – only appointed in March – and three other board members, all from the private sector, shows how frustrated and disempowered they felt at not being able to get things done – how BID proposals were either resisted or subject to “endless debate” about the local authorities’ work. There were arguments too over what was the council’s responsibility and what was the BID’s.

The Harrogate BID website says the aim of the BID is to “empower local businesses to tackle local issues…” Today’s letter makes clear that the Chairman and directors who resigned have no faith in the ability of the BID to tackle Harrogate’s issues – which, they say, run much deeper than its board is willing to admit.

Interim BID manager, Simon Kent

Earlier this week, the new interim BID manager, Simon Kent, told The Stray Ferret he wanted “to turn conversations and plans into real actions” and outlined its priorities. Mr Kent’s job to achieve those goals got a whole load more difficult today.

There are questions now for the two local authorities about how they have worked with the BID and how they can answer the criticism levied at them in the resignation letter.

Concluding their letter with a warning that Harrogate was struggling before the current lockdown, the chairman and directors say “the reality of the situation is becoming very serious indeed” for Harrogate town centre. There is huge pressure now on remaining board members to make levy payers feel their contribution was worth it and for the BID, despite the current circumstances, to deliver some meaningful results.