City councillors endorse Highland Council's partnership with Inverness BID
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A unanimous endorsement was provided today by city councillors for the ongoing partnership work of Inverness BID with Highland Council.
They approved recommendations to award the BID £101,898 from the Inverness Common Good Fund – subject to the approval of the common good fund 2020/21 budget.
Peter Strachan, the BID chairman, presented the annual report for December 2018 to January 2020 to city councillors today at Inverness Town House.
The report highlighted several projects delivered by Inverness BID which were supported by £102,000 Inverness Common Good Funding.
Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael said: “I am delighted to hear about the ongoing progress being delivered by Inverness BID with Inverness Common Good funding to enhance the economic wellbeing of the city centre through the coach friendly project, floral displays, gull management, marketing, safety and amenity projects.
"The partnership approach between BID and the council provides added value to project delivery in the city.
“Inverness BID represents over 850 city centre businesses with an income levy of around £200,000 in 2019/20. This levy has been invested in joint schemes with Inverness Common Good Funding of £102,000.
"Without this shared approach many of these projects would not have been possible by the local authority alone. We welcome Inverness BID’s continued partnership working.”
Mr Strachan said: “I was delighted to have the opportunity to address the city committee today to update them on BID's activities and in particular the projects which BID delivers for Inverness City Centre in partnership with Highland Council.
"We thank the councillors on the committee for their ongoing support for these projects and the funding from the Inverness Common Good Fund.”
Around 135,000 coach passengers were welcomed to Inverness city centre in 2019 by BID coach ambassadors at the Ardross Street drop-off and pick-up facility for overseas and British coach companies.
This was an increase of more than 13 per cent when compared with the 119,000 visitors for the previous year.
The coach ambassador project was delivered with joint funding of £9700 from the Inverness Common Good Fund and £6800 from the BID.
A total of £58,300 common good funding was approved to allow the BID to install 717 floral displays around the city centre – the grant will cover 70.6 per cent of the £82,600 needed for the project.
Tackling city centre gull issues has been an ongoing commitment of both the BID and the council with a a gull management project run by the partnership over the past seven years which has resulted in the removal of almost 11,500 eggs from area – since 2016 this has seen a reduction in the number of breeding pairs of gulls by 25 per cent. Councillors approved £12,000 towards the £18,000 cost of the project.
Members noted the work by the BID to market the city centre as a welcoming place with campaigns such as Christmas promotions and special events; the BID’s continued participation in the Inverness Community Safety Partnership; BID’s significant contribution in helping to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour by providing a security task team and taxi marshall service in the city centre; and the ongoing role of BID ambassadors helping to monitor amenity issues as well as removing fly-posting and graffiti in liaison with the council and the police.
