Town centre businesses in Croydon have voted decisively to keep their Business Improvement District running for another five years, handing the organisation a fifth consecutive term. The result was counted on 22 October, and it hands Croydon BID a renewed mandate from 1 April 2027 through to 31 March 2032.
The ballot, administered by Croydon Council’s Electoral Services team over a 31-day period, produced one of the strongest results in the BID’s history. Some 92.8 per cent of votes cast by number were in favour of renewal, while measured by rateable value the majority was 97.7 per cent. Turnout among eligible town centre businesses was 63.9 per cent.
Business Improvement Districts can only be renewed if they win a double majority: a majority of votes by number and a majority by the rateable value those votes represent. The test is designed so that renewal requires the backing of both small and large businesses, and in Croydon’s case both hurdles were cleared by wide margins.
Matthew Sims, chief executive of Croydon BID, said the result showed a business community pulling together: “The result is a true demonstration of a business community united together in working towards delivering progress and momentum for our town centre.”
He added: “There is a clear appreciation that there are significant challenges facing high streets and town centres like ours, but that these issues are to be met together, in partnership and in collaboration. Croydon BID is, as ever, committed, to supporting our business community, delivering across the next five years and is honoured, grateful and excited by the opportunity.”
Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon, said: “We welcome the strong support shown by businesses for the continuation of Croydon BID. This result demonstrates a shared commitment to the future of our town centre and recognition of the value that can be achieved when businesses work together on common priorities.”
Who pays for the BID, and what it covers
A Business Improvement District is a business-led body created under the Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004 to improve a defined commercial area. It is funded by a statutory levy collected from non-domestic ratepayers within its boundary — effectively an additional charge on top of business rates.
For the 2027-2032 term, the proposed levy is 1.3 per cent of rateable value, applying to businesses in the BID area with a rateable value of £40,000 or more. Around 460 businesses were eligible to vote in the renewal ballot. The BID area stretches from West Croydon station in the north, taking in Cherry Orchard Road and Number 1 Croydon in the east, Park Lane and Coombe Road in the south, and Charles Street and Church Street to the west.
Croydon Council collects the levy on the BID’s behalf in a single instalment each April, held in a separate account ring-fenced for BID spending. The organisation says the renewed mandate lets it continue work on town centre safety, the look and feel of the streets, marketing and events, and day-to-day business support.
A town centre under pressure
The renewal comes as Croydon town centre continues to navigate a difficult period for high streets and a turbulent stretch for the borough’s civic leadership. Croydon Council failed earlier this month to recruit a permanent chief executive and is relying on an interim being paid up to £1,500 a day, while the council separately agreed £1.79 million in funding with Transport for London for safer roads and better journeys across the borough.
The result also lands against a broader backdrop in which councils across London are warning that housebuilding viability has worsened, squeezing the funding available for regeneration. In that climate, the BID’s dedicated funding stream — raised from the businesses it serves and spent in the town centre — gives Croydon a stability that the council’s own stretched budgets cannot.
For businesses, the question now is what the next five years deliver. The BID’s business proposal for 2027-2032 promises to build on its current programmes and respond to members’ priorities on safety, investment and the town centre’s appearance. Whether the renewed mandate translates into visible change on Croydon’s streets will be the test of a fifth term.
