City son Sting sings its praises

Nov 7 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

Launched a little over eight months ago, the Newcastle Business Improvement District is making its presence felt, as well as receiving celebrity endorsement. Peter McCusker reports.

THE first visible signs of the work of Newcastle’s Business Improvement District (BID) was the deployment on to the city’s streets of rangers, then it was the rapid response cleaning times, and by the end of the year we expect to see the first city- centre pocket park.

This will be one of the first of four in the initial tranche of green spaces for the city with more expected to follow later.

NE1, the name of the Newcastle BID company, has so far received support from one of Tyneside’s most successful sons when Sting agreed to appear in a TV advert highlighting the city’s unique offering.

And Newcastle’s BID has grand future plans which will include sprucing up the Central Station, improving city-centre signage, and opening up more of the city’s empty retail units for community and arts uses.

NE1 chief executive Sean Bullick said: “In the first six months of trading we have got off to a flying start.

“Highlighting a series of priorities aimed at benefiting businesses’ bottom lines, we have already launched a fantastic celebrity-endorsed city-centre marketing campaign which, the figures already indicate, is significantly adding to footfall.

“Our street rangers and rapid response clean team are also out there tackling businesses’ day-to-day problems and the plaudits are rolling in; one business leader who benefited from the rapid response clean team recently said he’d never know such good service in his 65 years in the city centre.”

BIDs are common across the rest of the UK, with Newcastle being the 90th such venture.

The aim in Newcastle is to improve trade by providing tourists and shopping and leisure users with a clean, vibrant and secure city centre.

It was created in April this year following last October’s vote which saw a majority of the city’s 3,200 businesses back the scheme.

Funding for the BID comes from a 1% levy on the business rates of city centre businesses with a rateable value of over £20,000 which, along with match funding, may provide up to £15m over NE1’s first five years.

The largest investment so far has been in the TV advert in which Sting agreed to appear.

NE1 commercial manager Stephen Patterson said: “This advert is all the more special as the campaign has been funded by the businesses in Newcastle that are passionate about the city centre and this passion has resulted in enlisting support from an international star such as Sting.

“The focus of the campaign is not just to promote the big stars of the city that we all know and love, but also to promote the hidden gems, the small independent businesses that make Newcastle’s offer the most diverse in the region.”

Bob Senior, NE1 board member and managing director of Utopian Leisure, said: “The hairs on the back of my neck literally stood up when I saw the TV advert.

“The fact that Sting is involved just shows how passionate he is about the place, as is every trader involved with NE1.”

UKBids – the national body that oversee the BID schemes – said that to date BIDs have had many benefits for the participating areas.

“For the community these include producing economic wellbeing and economic growth in the area, attracting inward investment and helping create a positive sense of place and enhanced feeling of safety and wellbeing,” said a spokeswoman.

“For businesses it leads to an increased footfall, an increase in consumer spending, as well as giving businesses a local voice and creating a more appealing environment for employees.

“It creates a fair system and those who invest can see the benefits of where they are spending the money and they can decide and vote for action before making investments,” she said.

Mr Patterson added: “As the region’s capital, Newcastle has so much to shout about. With award-winning architecture, world-class cultural venues, diverse shopping and vibrant nightlife, it is an experience that is unsurpassed in the region.

“We see areas such as Grey Street as the Regent Street of the North East and locations such as High Bridge Street as the Covent Garden.”

NE1 has the support of some of the city’s major businesses. Tim Lamb, Eldon Square general manager, said: “The BID is fundamentally about ambition and driving footfall; getting the basics right, providing all city-centre users with a top-class, clean and attractive environment has to be the starting point from which to deliver this.”

David Quinn, Fenwick department store managing director, said: “The city centre has a dynamic retail and leisure scene but as every city tries to improve its offer, it’s important that we’re not complacent.”

As well as the street rangers, cleaners, advert and parks, NE1 has also launched the get-into-newcastle.co.uk website – which includes a complete guide to the centre’s attractions as well as a host of money-off vouchers for spending at some of the city’s businesses.

NE1 is also looking at new initiatives including establishing a link between the daytime and nightime economies, and rail visitors to the city may soon be greeted with improvements to the Central Station, with that now near the top of NE1’s agenda.