Contents Page Welcome 3 1. Introduction & summary of 2014 4 Introduction 1.1 Summary of 2014 Activity

2. Marketing a Vibrant Town Centre 6-8 2.1 Researching visitor perceptions 2.2 Website & Social Media 2.3 Marketing & Branding 2.4 Events 2.5 Plans for 2015

3. Safe & Secure 9-10 A safe and secure town centre is an essential requirement for businesses. 3.1 Police Community Support Officers 3.2 Blackburn Business Against Crime (BBAC) 3.2 CCTV 3.3 Plans for 2015

4. Greener Cleaner 11 4.1 Plans for 2015

5. Attract and Support 12 5.1 Working with Stakeholders 5.2 Measuring Footfall

6. Management 13-14 6.1 BID Management 6.2 Management Structure

Financial Summary 15

Contact us

Page 2 Welcome

Welcome to the first Blackburn Business Improvement District (BID) Annual Report.

We stand at the gateway of a landmark Even with the multi-million pound year for Blackburn Town Centre. This New regeneration completed, there are long Year revolution will see the long awaited standing problems that won’t go away completion of the Cathedral Quarter overnight and a large part of our work is about Developments, a new bus station changing investigating those issues that present a threat the face of Ainsworth Street and a brand to our high streets and lobbying the relevant new leisure centre and swimming pool. In bodies to do something about them. the past 12 months our oldest heritage buildings, the old Town Hall and Blackburn We’ve also been demonstrating through best Library have had dramatic facelifts and practice how we’d like to see the town centre Blackburn College has invested heavily in the marketed professionally, with high quality Campus area and new academic buildings. landmark events such as the Heritage Festival. Add these changes to the developments at We’re working closely with the Police and the The Mall and the new Blackburn Market, and Blackburn Businesses Against Crime group it’s true to say that physically the town is in to develop ways to improve perceptions and the best shape it’s been for many years. tackle anti-social behaviour in order for the town centre to feel a safe, secure place that The challenge for the BID in its first year of people enjoy spending time in. operation has been about raising awareness of the changes. We’ve been inviting people to In the coming months we’ll be developing grasp the vision by communicating that there’s dialogue with working groups in defined a changing ‘new Blackburn’ and encouraging districts with a series of bi-monthly meetings people to come back to see it. Much of so that traders have a voice, and we’re seeking year one has been about benchmarking to create a team of BID branded Town Centre and measuring, consulting and researching Wardens who can be the eyes and ears of the in order to assess the most effective way BID in key areas. for the BID to support these developments without duplicating or doing work that’s The Blackburn BID Executive Board has been an the responsibility of the Council or traders interim team in year one and I’d like to thank themselves. We staged our first event, the each and every one of those who supported Blackburn Heritage Festival, which increased the first year of operation, along with those footfall by 30,000 in one weekend. Two new traders who came to our first information PCSOs have been employed and we‘ve installed gathering and sharing breakfast sessions to additional CCTV cameras. A team of volunteer assist us with developing our plans. Talk of the Town Guides have been recruited and trained and we have a dedicated website, We look forward to the successes and PR and social media team generating a stream challenges of year two and witnessing the of good news about the town centre. transformation and continued development of a town centre for the benefit of traders, visitors We have had to look very carefully at the best and the whole community. way we can use the £295,000 from levies most effectively each year. Mark Smith Blackburn BID Chairman (2014)

Page 3 Introduction

Blackburn BID, a Business Improvement District for the town centre was launched in January 2014 following a successful ‘yes’ vote in November 2013.

The BID is a business-led and business funded initiative which was formed to improve a defined commercial area of approximately 300 businesses in the town centre. The Business Plan can be found at www.blackburnbid.co.uk detailing four main project areas and associated allocated budgets based on projected income of levies totalling £295,000 per annum over 5 years, 2014-2019.

• Marketing a Vibrant Town Centre • Safe & Secure • Greener, Cleaner • Attract & Support

The BID is managed by an Executive Board consisting of representatives from the businesses and key stakeholders operating in the town centre. Newground CIC is the accountable body for the BID.

The Blackburn BID is a member of British BIDs, an organisation focused on establishing and maintaining quality services and standards for Business Improvement Districts.

1.1 Summary of 2014 Activity

The following is a summary of the key successes achieved in the BID’s first year.

Objective 1

To market and promote Blackburn as a vibrant town centre. • Carried out a focus group event with visitors from ‘battleground’ areas to provide key insight into visitors’ tastes and needs. • Developed the Blackburn BID website as a gateway portal for the town centre. • Provided a dedicated PR service with a proactive ‘on the ground’ reporter generating creative content and news, feeding into media outlets as editorial, good new stories and interview opportunities, building relationships between businesses and local media. • Developed the ‘Be Surprised!’ campaign for Christmas 2014 which was rolled out across buses, train stations, hoardings, newspaper and magazine advertising. • Developed social media communication to promote the BID, including the provision of free digital shop doctor training for businesses to become better at utilising their online shop windows, e-marketing and e-commerce and the use of social media. • Staged the Blackburn Heritage Festival which attracted 30,000 more visitors to the town centre over two days in September 2014. • Recruited, trained and supported Talk of the Town Volunteer Ambassadors.

Page 4 Objective 2

To create a safer, more secure Blackburn town centre. • Provided two additional Police Community Support Officers for the BID area. • Provided additional CCTV cameras and facilitated links between the major operators of CCTV systems within the town centre. • Provided free membership of the Blackburn Business Against Crime Initiative to all BID levy payers including free crime prevention training for traders and access to the DISC (Database and Internet for Safer Communities) online crime alert information system. • Provided additional funding for non-core police activity to support peak times for festive shopping and late night opening. • Facilitated partnership working between agencies operating in the town centre, to address perceptions of antisocial behaviour.

Objective 3

To create a sustainable, cleaner and more attractive environment • Worked with the Council to improve signage to free shoppers’ car parks to improve accessibility. • Lobbied businesses, landlords and the Council to improve the appearance of specific areas of the town centre. • Carried out research and held consultations on gateways, planting projects and priority ‘grot spots’, developing programmes for implementation in 2015.

Objective 4

To attract and support business • Installed footfall counters to benchmark pedestrian flow in priority areas. • Supported the Council’s town centre movement consultation. • Developed and advertised a register of vacant properties within the BID area. • Developed a programme for improving the appearance of empty shops. • Supported new businesses in the levy area with free PR via local media and website.

Page 5 2. Marketing a Vibrant Town Centre A key aim is to market and promote Blackburn as East ’s centre for retail, leisure and business.

2.1 Researching visitor perceptions

A series of bench marking measures were implemented to measure the progress of the BID, capture perceptions of the town centre and to determine what visitors wanted most from their visit to Blackburn.

In a joint funded project by The Mall and the BID, two groups of people from identified ‘battleground’ areas were involved in facilitated exercises to prompt responses. They also took part in a guided tour of the town with key ambassadors so that they could understand the development work under way.

The key findings were: • Better car park signage. • Clearer road system – easier to navigate. • Places to eat and drink so you can spend a day. • Cheap/free things for families to do. • Some sort of trail for children. • Valuing our heritage – sense of identity around the past.

The BID has begun to address some of these issues by: • Installing additional BID branded car park signs. • Working with the Council on their access consultation exercise regarding town centre road system. • Continuing to raise awareness of the gap in the market for high quality food and drink businesses and will produce a downloadable guide to existing restaurants and cafes. • Working with the Council to produce and promote low cost, high quality events and activities for families. • Developing the Blackburn Heritage Festival.

Page 6 2.2 Website & Social Media

The Blackburn BID website has been set up as a portal for the town centre. It was developed and is managed by digital marketing consultancy Blackburn Life Media and includes a directory of traders, news feed, photography, events section and jobs area. We encourage all businesses to report good news, activities and events and provide a free PR service to levy payers with a dedicated reporter and photography.

The website has published 67 positive news stories about Blackburn during 2014 and now includes a Business Directory of 222 levy paying businesses along with a commercial property register. Sections for new business stories, a major events calendar and rebranding to match campaigns were also completed in 2014. The website is already one of the most active and comprehensive BID websites in the North West.

The BID employs the agency services of Blackburn Life Media to provide a managed social media service which benefits from the collateral of the social media streams of Blackburn Life for retweeting and sharing to large numbers of followers.

Key social media outcomes are: (figures include the 8 months from 1st May to 31st December 2014) • 20.1 million impressions on social media outlets (such as Twitter and Facebook). • 14,900 interactions with users on social media. • The Twitter and Facebook accounts continue to grow and now have more followers than other similar town centre accounts such as Visit Blackburn. The BID employs a dedicated PR and copywriting service through Blackburn Life Media. The team provides photography to support the creation and distribution of press releases and all text and photography for the website. The total advertising value of free editorial achieved has totalled over £50,000 since May 2014.

2.3 Marketing & Branding

A ‘Be Surprised’ campaign was launched as a concept for encouraging people to take a fresh look at Blackburn. This was developed for multi-platform campaigns in partnership with Borough Council, The Mall and Blackburn Market and appeared on buses, train stations, newspapers, magazines and hoardings. The initiative used a local model, Hannah Spurgeon, as a role model ambassador for visiting Blackburn.

The BID has taken advantages of the benefits afforded through annual membership of Marketing Lancashire. This provides coverage in the annual Lancashire visitors guide and a range of digital and print advertising opportunities across the year. The BID utilises a multi- platform approach to advertising by sourcing the best available media outlet for its chosen messages within a limited budget across the year, working with partners to get the best rates with shared branding wherever possible.

As part of the Christmas Be Surprised! campaign, the BID developed an A5 shopping events guide including a map of the town centre and descriptions of the diverse shopping districts. Ten toblerone towers as colour coded temporary billboards were installed across the town centre and town centre guides with maps were produced and distributed.

Page 7 2.4 Events

The BID delivered a heritage themed festival to link with the national Heritage Open Days events. Over 100 activities and events were listed including clog dancing displays, guided tours, promenade theatre and a pop up bandstand outside .

The event was organised in partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. The festival had a dedicated website and social media stream and attracted 30,000 additional visitors during the weekend.

Heritage Lottery funded and BID branded ‘Talk of the Town Guides’ were recruited, trained and deployed as part of the Blackburn Heritage Festival. These ambassadors were also on duty at Christmas to meet and greet visitors, provide street maps, advice and information.

2.5 Plans for 2015

In 2015 the BID plans to deliver the following activity to market and promote Blackburn as a vibrant town centre: • Countryside come to Town event on 20th June will use a nature/outdoors theme with the aim of bringing a target of 10 thousand additional people to the town on one day. The BID will lead on this event. • Heritage Festival, September 2015. The BID will again lead on the organisation and delivery of this event and grow on the 30,000 additional visitors in 2014. • Blackburn BID will continue to promote Blackburn through PR and marketing campaigns. • Work with businesses to improve their online presence and digital shop windows. • Continue the #Besurprised campaign into 2015.

Page 8 3. Safe & Secure

A safe and secure Blackburn town centre is an essential requirement for businesses.

3.1 Police Community Support Officers

The BID has supported the recruitment and deployment of two new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to operate within a team of 8 police officers and PCSOs covering the BID area.

The new PCSOs provide an enhanced presence on the Blackburn College campus and Townsmoor retail complex, as part of dedicated PCSO coverage and visible presence across the whole town centre. In recent years significant investment in the College has led to increasing student numbers. The PCSO has provided a regular high visible presence in and around the College campus building, developing a network of contacts and an understanding of the needs and requirements of the College community. In the Townsmoor area the focus is on increasing visibility and thus reducing the opportunities for crimes to occur.

The BID has also funded additional Police support for late night and Sunday shopping events during the festive season commencing with the Christmas lights switch on. This was due to the expected increased footfall visiting Blackburn Town Centre on the lead up to Christmas and the New Year. Complementing existing resources, the additional officers were directed to provide a high visibility presence in the busiest areas, providing reassurance to shoppers.

On ‘Mad Friday' the BID provided the use of an Ibulance bus in order to provide a space for ‘triage first aid’ to reduce the numbers at A&E presenting as non-urgent casualties as a result of injuries sustained through alcohol. On this evening Police Officers and First Aiders patrolled Blackburn Town Centre with a view to providing support to those in need. This type of initiative ensures that Police Officers are not unnecessarily abstracted from the town centre, to go to A&E.

3.2 Blackburn Business Against Crime (BBAC)

The BID supports the Blackburn Business Against Crime Initiative, which encourages partnership working to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre. The BID promotes the benefits of the service to traders, encouraging the take up of the radio system, electronic alerts, crime forums and training.

The BID works in partnership with the BBAC to encourage traders to report any security issues and assist with the circulation of regular news updates. We have supported the successes of the BBAC with a regular supply of good news stories relating to improvements and achievements to the media via the BID website, media staff and social media.

The BID reports on 5 main crime areas and the following table shows the number of incidents in 2013 (prior to the BID starting) and in 2014.

Page 9

2013 2014 Violent Crime 477 Offences 529 Offences Shoplifting 719 Offences 618 Offences Damage Offences 100 Offences 143 Offences Stealing From Motor Vehicle 61 Offences 86 Offences Town Centre ASB (Anti Social Behavior) 720 Incidents 678 Incidents

3.2 CCTV

The BID has worked closely with the operators of the town centre’s largest CCTV systems - Blackburn with Darwen Council, Capita, The Mall and Blackburn College, with the aim of enhancing coverage in the town centre and maximising partnership working.

The BID has funded additional CCTV cameras to address crime ‘hotspots’ and gaps in the existing town centre coverage.

3.3 Plans for 2015

In 2015 the BID plans to deliver the following activity to create a safer, more secure town centre: • Talk of the Town Guides. The BID will recruit a number of Town Centre guides to be available to assist visitors • Security training will be available for levy payers on 2015 • Town centre wardens to work in targeted areas • Provide additional security at key times e.g. events/Christmas • Continued partnership with BBAC.

Page 10 4. Greener Cleaner

The BID aims to improve the appearance of the area by investing in measures to reduce litter, graffiti and fly posts, raising standards of cleanliness and creating a more attractive environment for employees, residents and visitors.

4.1 Improvement Programme

We have worked with resident businesses to identify specific areas of the town centre which give a negative image, lobbying businesses, landlords and the Council to improve the appearance of areas of concern. Research and consultations on gateways, planting projects and priority ‘grot spots’ have enabled the development of delivery programmes for 2015. The BID has invested funds to improve signage to free shoppers’ car parks to improve accessibility for visitors.

4.2 Plans for 2015

In 2015 the BID plans to deliver the following activity to create a sustainable, cleaner and more attractive environment: • The BID aims to introduce a team of BID branded town centre wardens to address day to day issues in the town centre, including anti-social behaviour, littering and landscape maintenance. • To provide enhancements to improve perceptions for visitors approaching Blackburn via key gateways to the town centre. • To reduce the risk of urban blight caused by empty buildings and unattractive areas in priority areas on the edges of the main shopping areas. • To improve the appearance of empty shops with attractive vinyls to promote the BID and associated campaigns and events.

Page 11 5. Attract and Support

Businesses wanted the BID to develop initiatives to attract new businesses to the area, filling empty shops and premises to create a thriving mix of shops, restaurants and businesses.

5.1 Working with Stakeholders

The BID has worked with the Council, property agents and landlords to attract businesses to Blackburn town centre. As part of the BID website development, a comprehensive register of vacant properties in the town centre has been launched. New businesses in the levy area have been provided with free PR via local media and the BID website.

At the start of 2014, the vacant property rate was 18.8%. During the year it dropped to 17.5%. The BID will continue to work with the Local Authority and stakeholders to promote the town as a great place to do business.

5.2 Measuring Footfall

The Blackburn BID has installed 38 footfall monitors to count the number of visitors to the Town. These are sited throughout the BID area and complement the footfall monitoring undertaken by The Mall. The monitors were installed in August 2014 and provided the first readings in time for the Heritage Festival. The monitors will be used to provide accurate updates on how the work of the BID is improving footfall in Blackburn.

5.3 Plans for 2015

In 2015 the BID plans to deliver the following activity to support and attract businesses: • To launch a promotional video and series of shorts with ambassadors for the use of developers and property agents as well as on the BID website and for visitors. • To improving the appearance of empty properties through the use of vinyls and virtual shops to attract new tenants. • To develop Be Surprised awards to reward and promote excellence in customer service, innovation and quality. • To provide Welcome Host Gold customer service training and qualifications to improve customer service across retail businesses.

Page 12 6. Management 6.1 BID Management

The Blackburn based social enterprise, Newground, was awarded the contract to be the accountable body for the BID.

Whilst the BID Executive Board initially sought to appoint a BID Manager, a recruitment campaign failed to find the right candidate for the role. An interim solution was that Harriet Roberts, a freelance creative publicist and events manager, was commissioned to deliver the Marketing and Events Programme of the business plan, whilst Newground facilitated the delivery of other work streams.

This arrangement has proved successful and so in 2015 the Blackburn BID will employ Harriet Roberts as BID Manager on a freelance contract. She will lead the delivery of all the aspects of the BID business plan reporting to the BID Executive Board. Newground’s Mark Stevenson, as the BID Co-ordinator, will assist Harriet in the delivery of the BID.

6.2 Management Structure

The BID is managed by an Executive Board with 15 positions, held by representatives of the BID members. An interim board was responsible for running the BID in its first year of operation. The BID AGM will be held in February each year, with BID levy payers eligible to nominate individuals for the elected board positions.

A copy of the BID Constitution is available on the BID website www.blackburnbid.co.uk

BID Board

BID Manager & BID Coordinator

Blackburn Attract & Greener Cleaner Safe/Secure Business Support Against Crime Marketing & Events

Page 13 BID Board Members 2014

 

Sarah Lamey Phil Ainsworth Debenhams Ainsworth’s Jewellers

Jennifer Long Councillor Maureen Bateson Boots Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Oliver Nowell Martin Block Marks and Spencer Taylor’s Solicitors

Abdul Shakoor Paul Bury Tilt UK Cell Block

Mark Smith (Chair) Nicola Clayton Exchange Coffee Blackburn College

Dawn Smythe Caroline James Primark Trevor Dawson

Simon Wilkinson Loraine Jones NIS Limited The Mall Blackburn

Page 14 7. Financial Summary

Income Income Expenditure

Levy Recieved 270,052 Voluntary Levy Received 1,667 Other Income 12,013 Total Income 283,732

Expenditure

Objectives: 1. To market and promote Blackburn as a vibrant town centre 88,524 2. To create a safer, more secure Blackburn town centre 23,096 3. To create a sustainable, cleaner and more attractive envionment 5,670 4. To attract and support businesses 2,000

Levy collection charges 183,785

Income carried forward to 2015 99,947

Committed costs carried forward to 2015 41,602

Surplus funds carried forward to 2015 58,345

Page 15 For more information please contact Mark Stevenson, Bid Coordinator. Tel: 01254 669038 Email: [email protected] www.blackburnbid.co.uk

Blackburn Business Improvement District is managed by Newground CIC, 193 Bolton Road, Blackburn BB2 3GE