A Business Improvement District (BID) is a business-led and business-funded body, created through a ballot process, to improve a defined area in which a levy is charged on all business rate payers in addition to their normal business rates bill. The BID is funded primarily through this levy but can also draw on other public and private funding streams, using its resources to develop projects that are intended to provide additional services or improvements to the local area.

BIDs started in the US, but there are now more than 270 in the UK alone. They work together through organisations such as British BIDs and the BID Foundation. BIDs often focus on improving the public realm, creating a better trading environment for local businesses.

But what if a BID could play a role in managing parks for the benefit of both the local economy and the community?

This idea originates from Bryant Park, known as Manhattan's Town Square. In the first Rethinking Parks programme we supported the Bloomsbury Squared project, in which Camden Council explored the possibility of establishing a park-specific business improvement district (PID) where local businesses would support the nine squares in central London between High Holborn and Euston.

The project had a number of successes including a demonstrator project in Red Lion Square, which proved to be a useful mechanism for increasing community engagement and making them aware of the opportunities to get involved. The event boosted both business and volunteer involvement in maintaining the park and resulted in a newly established Friends Group to progress work further. Although the results of a business survey found that there was some interest in a BID with a remit to encompass parks and wider amenity improvements, there was unfortunately not enough for the PID to go ahead on this occasion

However, the Bloomsbury project showed that, given a sufficiently attractive return for local businesses, there was some support for a BID that included a focus on parks alongside other priorities. With this in mind, we are interested in proposals that build on this learning, perhaps by making the management or improvement of public parks a key part of a BID’s work. This could be delivered by an existing BID or be part of a proposal in a new location. Public realm improvements and open spaces management is already a key feature of many existing BIDs.