Dear BID Businesses,
Many of you will already know that Mark Halls recently stepped down from being the Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) Manager, and, after three years of voluntary service, from being a Director of the BID.
As the lead Director on the BID's "Welcoming Town" Objective, Mark has been the driving force behind the BCRP since the BID started back in April 2018, and he’s done an incredible job to get it instigated and accredited, built up a really effective relationship with Sussex Police and the other agencies involved in the Town Centre, and built up a solid membership ... not to mention the day-to-day processing of DISC incidents and reports, issuing and monitoring and progressing exclusions, setting up the one month free radio trial scheme, initiating and driving the expanded CCTV project, managing the contract with the Warden service providers and daily interactions with the Community Warden. Both personally and on behalf of the BID Board, I’d like to thank Mark for his excellent work and commitment to reducing business crime and anti-social behaviour through the Business Crime Reduction Partnership.
With Mark stepping down, I am taking on the role of “BCRP Manager”, which essentially means I’ll have responsibility for oversight of the Partnership. Whilst I don’t have Mark’s background in Policing or retail, the role of BCRP Manager is, fundamentally, an “informed administrative, communications and information sharing” position.
The BID’s Board of Directors had already approved the appointment of a new part time position for a business facing BID Ambassador / BCRP Admin Support. (You can see all information about the BID’s "Welcoming Town" Plans for 2021-22 on our website: www.brbid.org). Coincidentally, Mark’s decision to step down came at the same time as an internal staffing request to revert to part time hours. This means we’ve actually been able to create a full time role to provide Ambassador and BCRP admin support services with no extra impact on the overall budget. A fantastic person has now been appointed to this role, and will start on July 19th. I’ll introduce them to you all closer to the time.
If you're not familiar with the activities carried out by the BR BID in terms of the Business Crime Reduction Partnership, I've included an overview, below.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding this information, or are a BID area business interested in becoming a member of the BID's BCRP. the best way to contact me is by emailing: heather@brbid.org
What is the BR BID’s BCRP?
The Bognor Regis Business Improvement District (BID) is funded by businesses in a defined area whose commercial properties have a rateable value over £6000. Each eligible business pays 1.5% of their property’s Rateable Value in BID Levy each year. The amount businesses in the immediate town centre area (where most BCRP Members are located) pay in BID Levy ranges from £90 + VAT per year to £5575 + VAT per year.
The Business Crime Reduction Partnership isn’t the only thing the BID delivers to improve the trading environment for businesses within the BID Area. You'll find full details of the BID's four "Objectives" - on our website.
The Bognor Regis BID has delivered the Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) since September 2018 as part of its “Welcoming Town” Objective. Membership of the BCRP is free for all BID Levy Payers. Non-levy payers that want to join the partnership pay an annual fee of £45 + VAT for access to the DISC system. At the time of writing, 28 businesses within the BID Area are members of the BCRP.
Yes, but what IS it?
The BCRP is a formal, GDPR compliant structure that allows us to provide member businesses with the following tools and services:
• DISC reporting app for businesses to record and report incidents.
• DISC administration to ensure all incidents reported by businesses are processed correctly and progressed to the relevant authorities for further action and resource planning.
• DISC system for sharing urgent messages, all documents associated with BCRP, updates on crime prevention advice, national alerts on scams, travelling gangs and other business crime related issues.
• Management and delivery of the “Exclusion Scheme” banning repeat offenders from entry to BCRP Members premises based on reports submitted through the DISC app.
• A data compliant “umbrella” that enables businesses to share information about live incidents or intelligence over the radio network.
• Access to a free monthly radio trial to help businesses decide whether to commit to a contract with Sussex Communications.
• Representation of business concerns at the monthly Joint Arun Action Partnership meeting based on data submitted through the DISC app.
• Information sharing and representation of Bognor Regis Business interests at wider area BCRP groups on a quarterly basis based on data submitted through the DISC app.
The BID also contributes over 2/3 of the costs of providing a Full Time Community Warden with CCAS powers to provide timely, in-person support to businesses and the community, deals with the ongoing management of the contract and arranges all of the payments to the service provider, SWL.
A lot of work goes into making sure the BID’s BCRP meets the strict quality and process criteria required for formal accreditation. Accreditation means the BCRP can enter into a formal Information Sharing Agreement with Sussex Police, which enables a more detailed flow of intelligence sharing.
Kind regards, Heather
Heather Allen
BR BID Co-Ordinator