Plymouth City Council has confirmed its support for the city’s Waterfront businesses through the renewal of Plymouth Waterfront Partnership’s Business Improvement District (PWP BID), after discussing the new draft business plan, Waterfront BID3, at today’s Cabinet meeting.
PWP BID currently encompasses over 900 hundred businesses located around Plymouth’s Waterfront, from Royal William Yard and Millbay to the Hoe, Barbican, Mount Batten and everything in-between. The BID is currently delivering Waterfront BID2, a plan from 2017 to 31 March 2022.
Waterfront BID3 sets out a new ambitious vision for the Waterfront area and the BID’s plan for driving growth and supporting the development of the Waterfront over the following five years.
Councillor Pete Smith, Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “We’re proud to have worked closely with PWP since 2010. The new business plan could play a very important role in helping us to deliver our strategic visitor objectives set out in the Plymouth Visitor Plan for 2020 – 2030. The Waterfront is the jewel in Plymouth’s crown and with our ambitions to be the first National Marine Park in the UK, working with PWP is key to further developing and improving our Waterfront area.”
The Council has also committed financial support and agreed baseline services to PWP. Any business contributions made by BID levy payers (circa £1.8 million) will deliver additional investment over and above the support made by the Council, which totals more than £6.2 million. This is in addition to other targeted grant and match funding of £5 million, bringing the total projected value of Waterfront BID3 to more than £13 million over five years.
Chair of PWP, Nick Buckland OBE, said: “Our overall aim for the BID is to promote, guide and support the development of Plymouth’s Waterfront while giving our business members a collective voice and supporting their growth. Waterfront BID3 will see us develop stronger working relationships with our strategic partners and member businesses, with the common goal of securing economic prosperity, improving our environment, attracting more visitors and increasing consumer spend, for the benefit of everyone.”
The BID will continue to focus on business priorities of increasing visitor numbers, customer spend and commercial success. This will be done through:
- Leadership: Providing a strong business voice to lobby and influence for future investment and public realm improvements for the Waterfront.
- Marketing: Supporting key events and regional and national marketing campaigns and improving visitor signage and information.
- Operational management: Holding service providers to account to ensure standards of cleaning, maintenance and other services are maintained.
- Finance: Attracting significant match funding, in addition to contributions from businesses, to spend on Waterfront improvements.
There are four key, inter-related themes at the heart of the BID3 Business Plan. These themes align with wider city plans, including the development of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and the new Plymouth Cultural Strategy:
- Creating the Waterfront of Tomorrow, Today
- Vibrant Tourist Destination
- Environmental Excellence
- Business Voice
Businesses in the Waterfront BID area will be asked to vote on the BID renewal in November. The business plan is still in developmental phase and businesses were asked to input and feedback on the plans proposed during the stage 2 consultation, which was completed on 5 March 2021.
The draft version of the PWP Waterfront BID3 Business Plan themes (2022 to 2027) are available to view at: www.waterfrontbid.co.uk.