Harley Street BID seeks renewal with an altered five-year term

Westminster City Council has approved a proposal by the Harley Street Business Improvement District (BID) to hold a ballot of its members to renew its operation for a second five-year term.

First established in 2022, the BID covers a cluster of specialist healthcare providers, medical institutions and associated businesses in the streets stretching from the north-west tip of Fitzrovia, and extending west to just beyond Marylebone High Street, bounded in the north by Marylebone Road, and one block north of Oxford Street in the south.

The BID ballot, to be run by Westminster Council, would be held during January and February with the result announced on 24 February 2027.

If successful the term will run from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032 in an ongoing public-private partnership with Westminster Council.

BIDs provide environmental services, marketing and security for their members and funded by charging the largest businesses a levy based on the rateable value (RV) of premises.

Levy income is forecast to be approximately £6.5mn between 2027 and 2032, with an additional £400k from voluntary income and sponsorship.

Approval will be sought from members for an alteration to the criteria for the annual charges collected. The proposed changes are:

• The BID levy will be applied to all ratepayers with a RV equal to or greater than £200,000 instead of the existing £150,000;
• Levy is one per cent of rateable value, with a board-approved discretionary increase of up to three per cent annually when previously it was fixed for five years;
• Levy is now capped at £30,000 per legal organisation per year, previously £25,000, also subject to the annual increase;
• Introducing an 80 per cent discount for NHS Trust facilities (excluding private patient units).

As the BID boundary overlaps with the New West End Company BID in the south, special levy rates will exist in collaboration with the neighbouring BID.

However, Westminster Council says overlapping BIDs present a number of challenges to both the local authority and the business community and has this month approved a policy to deter such overlaps, which will be applied to new applications and renewals but not existing arrangements.

“Whilst uncommon, one of the principal risks associated with allowing two BIDs to operate within the same geographical area, albeit with different levy rules and liable hereditaments, is that it could enable a BID proposer to develop and submit a proposal covering the full footprint of an existing BID solely to capture hereditaments that fall outside the existing BID’s levy arrangements,” states a council report on the decision.

“This could result in two BID areas directly overlapping across the same geographic footprint. In the absence of a formal policy, there is currently nothing to prevent such a scenario from occurring.”

To the east of the Harley Street BID, The Fitzrovia Partnership runs two BIDs, in Fitzrovia West and Fitzrovia East.

BIDs are controversial because they operate in a way that treats the public realm as an extension of the commercial environment in a part-privatisation of public space, and can compete with community organisations for additional funding.

They were created under legislation introduced in 2003 by Tony Blair’s government.

Westminster City Council, decisions: Harley Street Renewal and Alteration BID Proposal 2027-2032; Overlap Area Policy – Business Improvement Districts.

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