Over promising of ‘extra free money’ explained.
A BID Business Plan is a legally binding document. The contents are what you are voting on and if successful, the BID Company has a fixed term period to deliver.
In BID Legislation a Business Plan cannot include "external funding" unless it is guaranteed and already in place before the ballot, as we see with the 2018 Oswestry Business Plan.
The original Business Plan for Aberystwyth in 2016 included Council funding of £250k and was correct to include. This was in place before the ballot as the Council had ring fenced the sum from the sale of the Mill Street Development ( Tesco / M&S ) to a Town Business Project.
Fast forward to 2021 and the Business Plan that Advancing Aberystwyth has put together, includes £225k as Grants / Sponsorship / other Income and these figures are estimates of the BIDs 1st five year term. ( see image )
This £225k grant money not yet acquired, accounts for 22% of the Budget Income and raises serious questions as to whether all the projects can be achieved if this income is not raised / secured during the five year period. There are also no details where this comes from and it is only an estimate.
Even in year one, with the "actual" income of £162k,
- The Ice Rink Project, costs in excess of £100k to operate and had loses of £37k in 2019.
- Staff costs of £58k a year,
There is not enough money to carry out everything the Business Plan is proposing.
The legally binding Business Plan being presented to you is a "Wish List" and I'm sure we would all benefit from all these projects being completed in the next five years but we are not voting on what COULD happen with unlimited funding.
In an attempt to get your 'yes' vote, BIDs have a habit of over promising but under delivering, and here with Advancing Aberystwyth this tactic is being played out for both additional funding and project deliverables.
Just be careful not to take everything at ‘face value’ before casting your vote. Don't take our word for it, ask the Advancing Aberystwyth Board for more information on how they plan to pay for everything in their plan.