The age-friendly role of Business Improvement Districts

At the Centre for Ageing Better, we are currently working in partnership with Bournemouth Town Centre BID and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council in supporting local businesses to be more age-friendly and inclusive to older residents and visitors.  

A Take a Seat initiative will result in more seating in local businesses, and free training is also being offered to staff alongside microgrants to encourage businesses that are part of the town centre BID to make improvements that will benefit older customers.

The aim is to help local businesses to recognise the value of older people as economically active and help older people to engage with their businesses and the wider town centre.  

This is an example of successful collaborative work involving a BID, which are business-led and business-funded bodies and designed to empower businesses to ‘raise funds locally, to be spent locally’.  

We hope that other Age-friendly Communities and local authorities will take inspiration from this project and our key learning shared below to develop their own projects with BIDs in their area.  

Funds raised by BIDS through levy payments collected from business rate payers are already spent in a variety of ways to encourage creating community connection and footfall including:

• Hosting community events and celebrations enticing people to visit.
• Deep street cleaning, graffiti removal and installation of floral displays.
• Employing street rangers who offer a friendly ambassadorial and supportive presence.
• Introducing gift cards encouraging more people to spend locally.   

There are currently more than 330 BIDs across the UK, most of which tend to be in town and city centres.  

All BIDs have a five-year plan that outlines their priority areas of focus, guiding the type of projects that the levy funds will pay for.  

How can BIDs help make more places age-friendly?

BIDs hold a unique position, acting as conduits between business, local government, and communities. They can be a powerful tool to support age-friendly work.

For local authorities, Age-friendly Communities and voluntary and community sector organisations involved in age-friendly work, engaging and developing a strong relationship with the local BIDs can offer many benefits: 

• They represent the voice of businesses, with a clear understanding of local business priorities, challenges and frustrations.  
• Their close relationships with local businesses can help to ease any concerns or fears from businesses that might be worried about doing or saying the wrong thing.  
• They collect regular data on business and customer habits that could be used to inform strategic planning.  
• They can offer a useful communication channel for sharing information with local businesses.
• They have the power to support or coordinate collaborative tendering and delivery as well as collective activities like local events and celebrations. 

Ten top tips for engaging BIDs in age-friendly work

We consulted with a range of BIDs that have engaged in age-friendly work and have identified some top tips for anyone wanting to work with their local BIDs:  

1. Research the local BID(s), identify any key contacts and find out more about who the levy payers are (including their size and sector), what the physical boundary of the BID area is and implications such as local competition.  
2. Review their strategy to see where your age-friendly work might align. Every BID has their own action plan and it’s useful to understand the priorities of the BID.  
3. Try to identify and bring on board a proactive board member or champion who is positive, motivated and passionate about the case – a ‘mover and shaker’ (though relying on one person can have pitfalls, so the goal over time is to ensure the whole board is bought in to the benefits of the initiative).
4. Consider combining age-friendly work into broader initiatives that focus on accessibility for ALL.  
5. Build a clear argument demonstrating the economic power of the 50+ local population and how our ageing population is currently untapped. Even basic numbers on over 50s in the area served by the BID and other stats around purchasing power of those over 50s are helpful.
6. Keep any ‘asks’ to a minimum and keep them as simple as possible. Start small and focus on low and no cost actions that could be applied by any business within the BID area. Local BIDs don't have many resources, so be realistic of expectations.  
7. Show what you can give to the BID, for example, opportunities for consultation with the 50+ local population and access to local ageing data.  
8. Be prepared to offer something to the levy payers, for example, free age-awareness training, networking opportunities, information and resources.
9. Invite members of the BID board to participate in a walking audit around the BID area – bringing in the perspective of older people and identifying what may be deterring them from visiting. Walking audits can be light-touch and not too prescriptive.
10. Give the BID leads the knowledge and understanding so they can help identify what will work best for their levy payers and embed in their work – being able and willing to address any negative assumptions about what it takes to be age-friendly. 

We need age-friendly environments and BIDs are in a unique position to influence and support businesses to become more accessible and inclusive.

For more information on the kinds of changes that can be made see our age-friendly business framework and case studies.

To find out more about BIDs visit here and here.

Photography by Bournemouth Town Centre BID & Paul Collins Visuals.