Kendal Business Improvement District

Meeting of the BID Board

Wednesday 19th March 2014

5.30 pm – 7.30 pm

Beales, Finkle Street, Kendal

Note of Meeting

Item / Key points/decisions
1.  Welcome, introduction, apologies / Meeting chaired by Chris Kolek (Kendal BID/Kendal Futures)
Attendance: Dan Morley (Beales), Richard Foster (Brewery Arts Centre), Rory Black (Designworks), John Osborne (Temple-Heelis), Simon Thomas (Staff of Life), Christian Hoyle (TTs Diner), Brian Harrison (FSB), Jackie Ward (Armstrong Ward), Abi Green (Boots), Colin Reynolds (Green Door Studios), Joanne Golton (SLDC), Paula Scott (Kendal Futures).
Apologies: Gordon Watson (Lakeland Arts)
2. Brief Update
- progress with incorporation, levy bills, operating agreement, PR and communications etc / Incorporation
The BID Board members returned their Director appointment forms to Chris and have signed the memorandum. The Articles of Association state that the Directors have a guarantee value of £1 each. The registered office will be Maudlands, the offices of Lake District Estates run by Peter Hensman. Peter is Chair of Kendal Futures, the originator of the BID proposal.
ACTION: Chris to send the incorporation forms to Companies House, pay the fee and invoice the BID company back at cost.
PR/communications
Positive, consistent messages about the BID and Kendal will be important. The Board may want to appoint a main spokesperson (possibly the Chair). Chris offered support and assistance with answering technical questions when needed. The Gazette contacted Chris about the new Primark opening in Lancaster and a positive, bold response is needed from the Board.
ACTION: Chris to draft a response to be sent from the BID Board.
Paula said the existing communication channels (website, Twitter, enewsletter) will all be handed over to the Board in time.
ACTION: Chris to draft a communications plan and circulate by email.
ACTION: All to think about an initial positive introductory message from the Board and highlighting some early project development and ‘quick wins’.
Billing
Joanne provided an update from the billing authority (SLDC). All the bills have now gone out and are due for payment 1st April. 79 businesses have paid to date, however, and there is £14,563 currently in the pot. Some confidential information was provided about changes to Rateable Values for some businesses which will affect the final BID fund. The main queries being received from SLDC about the levy were discussed, and Chris has also been responding to businesses by phone and email. Chris reminded everyone it was important to stress that this is a business levy and not a tax, and the benefits will be felt by businesses through an improved trading environment. Small businesses will also shortly benefit from £1k of government rate relief, which will help to offset the levy cost.
The Operating Agreement and Baseline Services Statements will be brought to the next meeting for sign off by the Board.
ACTION: Chris to circulate the documents by email prior to the meeting and add to the next agenda. Paula to chase CCC again for their baseline service agreement.
3. Election of Chair
- nominations and decision by show of hands
/ It was agreed that the Chair should be elected from the existing pool of Board members, voted for at the public meeting. A role of Chair and Vice Chair was agreed. The roles will be kept under constant review and the positions could rotate among the Board members in future. Brian proposed Dan for Chair and Simon for Vice Chair. The motion was seconded by Colin and all agreed.
4. Review of Director nominations
- option to co-opt two Directors from the nominations
- letter of invitation to SLDC re 2 seats / Derek Armstrong (Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, Made in Cumbria and the TIC) was proposed as an additional board member by Christian and the Board agreed he should be co-opted.
ACTION: Chris to draft an invitation to the Board to Derek from Dan.
The Board then agreed to co-opt another member at a later date when they know what additional skills may be needed to complement the existing members.
SLDC will be invited to nominate 2 members to join the Board. They can then choose to pass on one of the invitations to Kendal Town Council or Cumbria County Council if they wish. The CEO will be asked to nominate the right people, although the Board will state a preference for a member, rather than an officer.
ACTION: Chris to draft an invitation to SLDC asking them to nominate 2 board members.
5. Priorities for first 6 months
- set out some quick wins
- seat on Kendal Futures Board
/ Chris reminded the Board that the business plan needs to be respected as it is what the businesses in the town voted for and said they wanted. The business plan is designed to be flexible, however, so the board can deliver a variety of projects and services to meet the needs of the town. Various ways of practically managing the projects were discussed and it was agreed to form small working groups to begin to look at a few key topics:
·  Car parking – Brian, Richard
·  Appearance – Civic Society links, Richard to report back about the Police Yard project
·  Local shopping (Totally Locally) – Simon, Rory, Abi (Joanne offered support from the Econ Dev team)
·  Pop up shops – Christian, John, Colin (and link to Kendal College)
ACTION: All to think further about how to prioritise the main project categories 1 – 4 at the next meeting.
The benches around the Bird Cage need to be replaced and Joanne suggested this may be possible using existing SLDC stock. ACTION: Paula to draft a letter requesting the benches be replaced for Dan to send on behalf of the BID Board.
Events and festivals are a big part of the town and do feature in the business plan. The Board agreed they need to decide on a wider policy for how best to support festivals and what they require in return to address the commercial aspect for the town. Richard and Simon agreed to declare an interest whenever festivals are discussed due to their close involvement already.
Paula invited a member of the BID Board to sit on the Kendal Futures Board and Dan agreed to take on this role in his position as Chair.
ACTION: Paula to write to Dan to officially invite him to join Kendal Futures.
6. Support requirements
- agree immediate need
- consider needs going forward / Chris offered additional support to the Board of up to 8 days (1 day per week for up to 8 weeks) to establish a comms plan, produce a job description for a co-ordinator and help with some general profile raising and briefings. SLDC has offered to fund this support 50/50 with the BID at £1k each and everyone agreed.
ACTION: Chris to confirm with Dan and discuss how he can best support the Board in the next few weeks.
6. Dates for future meetings
- AOB / Wednesday 9th April – 5.30 pm (without Chris)
Wednesday 14th May – 5.30 pm
Wednesday 11th June – 5.30 pm
Dan offered Beales as an ongoing venue and this was agreed.
Abi announced that she may be moving to another role within Boots and leaving the Kendal store. The group discussed whether the town voted for Abi personally or Boots as a company. Abi stressed that the new manager would be equally keen to sit on the Board and that Boots is very keen to continue to be involved and has a great deal of experience with BIDs. It was agreed to wait until Abi’s move was definite before making a decision.
Colin offered to take on the role of Finance Director for the BID Board due his previous skills and experience and everyone agreed.
ACTION: Colin to act as Finance Director for the Board.