Feasibility study mistakes: Council properties. Taunton BID fail to list all council properties, do they really exist?

 

Our sample research finds that the Somerset West & Taunton (SWT) Council properties listed in the feasibility study should be at least 11 instead of 8. We haven’t even checked the whole of the BID area, so perhaps there could be more? Why do Taunton BID think the additional 3 council properties we have identified don’t exist?

The Taunton BID feasibility study states the following local authority properties within the BID area:

taunton bid council properties.PNG

From the quick look we’ve done we can’t understand why the following 3 council properties appear to have been missed out of the feasibility study:

SWT missing properties.PNG

Besides showing in the National Non-Domestic Rates List 2017, here’s further proof that these council properties really exist:

 
 

There are at least 4 possible explanations to explain these 3 omissions:

  1. Our research is not accurate, but I think we all know those 3 properties are actually there on the ground, and they are also listed in the National Non-Domestic Rates List 2017 the BID Consultants also used.

  2. It’s sloppy research by the BID Consultants. This is also the sort of problem you get when BID Consultants come in from outside a town they clearly don’t really know, to push through a BID process.

  3. For some reason Taunton BID are attempting to hide the number of Council properties (see our concerns about council voting bias and the partnership between BIDs and local authorities).

  4. Is there’s another reason Taunton BID would care to mention?

Considering there appear more feasibility study mistakes than just council properties, are there some fundamental flaws to the assumptions in the BID proposal, and can we trust everything Taunton BID are saying? That’s for you to decide ……

P.S. Don’t forget to look at our summary of mistakes by here.

Recommendation for Taunton BID:

Given that our findings show SWT Council properties should be at least 11 instead of 8 (an increase of over 40%), we invite Taunton BID to have the number of council properties within the BID area double checked, and if appropriate release an updated list.

Do they really exist?

Do they really exist?

 
Against BIDmistakes