Request and Response:
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request, details as below.
Please see below also, the Council's response, please note that copies of the West Bromwich Town Centre and Wednesbury BID Business Plans are large electronic files and cannot be attached to this response so will be emailed to you separately.
Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,
For purposes of academic research, I am planning to make a request for documents and statistics under the UK Freedom of Information Act.
I am working on a research project documenting the advantages for local businesses of organising themselves as a Business Improvement District (BID). Under this model, incumbent businesses vote on the proposal to become a BID via a ballot. If the majority of voters agrees, the BID is formed. Every five years, a BID needs renewal and a new ballot is held.
As a first step in the research project, I would like to gather information about the ballot results conducted by each BID established within the Council between 2005 and 2017. In addition, I would be grateful to receive a copy of the BID Business Plan submitted to the Council for consideration in preparation of a specific ballot (either for the creation of a BID or for its renewal).
To my knowledge, there is only one BID (of Town Centre type) that is currently active within the Council. This is West Bromwich Town BID. If you have information on other BIDs (of Town Centre, Commercial and Leisure types) that are currently active or BIDs that failed to pass at the ballot (either initial or renewal), I would be grateful if you could extend my information request covering these BIDs also.
Ideally, the information I am looking for is as follows:
•Name of the BID
•Dates in which ballots were held
For each ballot:
oBallot turnout A (in terms of percentage of eligible businesses voting)
oBallot turnout B (in terms of percentage of rateable value of businesses voting)
oBallot results A (in terms of percentage of eligible businesses voting yes)
oBallot results B (in terms of percentage of rateable value of businesses voting yes)
oBID business plan submitted to the Council for consideration in preparation of a specific ballot.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Unfortunately, the ballot result for the West Bromwich Town Centre BID is no longer held.
There is also a Wednesbury BID within Sandwell.
Ballot Results for Wednesbury BID Ballot:
Vote Count Rateable Value
Yes 54 1571625
No 25 171875
Invalid 3 23700
Total 82 1767200
If you wish to receive further information in regards to this request or wish to submit a Freedom of Information Request please forward your request to or Information Management Unit, Sandwell Council House, Freeth Street, Oldbury, West Midlands, B69 3DE
Please note that there is also an Albion BID within Sandwell, this is managed by a separate private organisation, you can contact them by following the website link below:
If you wish to receive further information in regards to this request or wish to submit a Freedom of Information Request please forward your request Information Management Unit, Sandwell Council House, Freeth Street, Oldbury, West Midlands, B69 3DE.