Yes to HullBID Means Yes to City Centre Businesses
The 18th of March 2016 was a good news day for the city of Hull. HullBID (Business Improvement District) programme that has been so valuable to the city centre was elected to remain in operation for another five years. The yes vote secured 80 percent of votes cast, equating to £30.5 million voting for the team. So why is HullBID so valuable to Hull and what will it mean for the city in years to come?
HullBID is a charitable partnership, helping Hull to become a better place to do business. The businesses that partner with the organisation believe in it as much as they believe in Hull, helping to enable productive business in future.
Yes to the city at present
The landslide yes vote represents a vote of confidence not just in HullBID itself, but in Hull as a business city with a bustling heart and a dynamic economy. There are lots of reasons to agree with this assessment of Hull, from St Stephen’s and Hull Truck Theatre, to C4DI and the new amphitheatre. Of course this doesn’t even begin to account for the hundreds of businesses that make Hull the vibrant business city that it is today. All of these businesses will continue with the option to rely on HullBID to represent them, promote them and collaborate with them from now on. In this way the yes vote was not just a recognition of Hull being an innovating city, but also a pledge to work to maintain this status in the future.
Yes to the city in the future
City of Culture 2017, the Siemens wind turbine manufacturing plant: there are a lot of big opportunities coming to Hull in the next few years. But without help it can be hard for small enterprises to take full advantage of big opportunities. The voices of the innovators can get drowned out by the noise. Fortunately, the vote for continuing HullBID means that the charity can continue to advise and collaborate with these smaller operators so that they can fully benefit from and contribute to progress during this exciting chapter in the city’s development.
Yes to continuing a great history
As the hometown of William Wilberforce and one of the great dock cities of the British Empire, Hull has already more than assured itself a place in history. Now it is the city’s job to protect that history and build on it. HullBID supports many of the stalwart businesses that have existed in Hull for a long time, helping to make the city what it is today. It has reduced the graffiti and crime that might have otherwise blighted our historic city centre, and intends to keep doing so. As long as HullBID continues, the city will enjoy this protection, not to mention the celebration of things like its food, culture and architecture in the form of Hull Trinity Festival and the Yum Food Festival. These are the things that have made Hull a success and, with HullBID’s continuation, they will continue to do so.