SHEFFIELD BID
New year, new beginnings. It’s especially true for Sheffield BID, which will finally go to ballot for its second term in March. The new chair, Amanda Phillips, tells unLTD’s Mike Durham why it’s all to play for It’s fair to say that Sheffield BID faced some significant changes in 2020. The initiative was almost turned upside-down when the first term was suddenly extended for eight months due to COVID-19, putting the ballot plans and the regular income on hold. There was also a change in structure, Suzy Brain England made the decision to step down from her position as chair. Thankfully, Amanda Philips, who lives and breathes retail as centre manager for The Moor, made the brave choice to volunteer for the role. Amanda said: “I don’t like shopping, but I love retail. I think that the board thought
36
that I had a lot of experience I could bring to the table to convince retailers into getting BID through, because that’s the critical thing. “A lot of people who pay the levy don’t realise what BID has done for the city over the past five years – if they looked at the full story, they’d say we can’t do without it. “If you come into work in the morning and you’ve got graffiti all over your wall, you just call the number, that’s someone employed by BID coming to clean it, not the council.” So, what does Amanda have in mind for her first year as chair? “The main thing for me is getting this vote through so
we can continue to deliver and enhance what we’ve been delivering to this city. “COVID-19 has made that challenge really difficult, because some sectors haven’t opened the doors since March 22, and we’re expecting them to pay extra money. “It’s tough out there for everybody, profit margins are on everyone’s minds. All your staff are working from home, but you’re still paying rent.” Should everything hopefully go to plan, extensive consultations suggest that BID needs more of an evolution, rather than a reinvention. The initiative will target four key themes next year. Perhaps the most obvious is Vibrant,
which is all about enhancing visitor’s experience with diverse events, festivals and culture like Bricktropolis and Cliffhanger. Of course, in the current situation no one can say exactly when these events will return, but Amanda is confident they will – even if they may look slightly different when they do. “We’ve got to work on the premise that life will at some stage return to normal, because if we don’t I might as well pack my bags up as a shopping centre manager now.” Connected is exactly what it says on the tin, and is all about bringing people and businesses in the city centre closer together through various initiatives. BID must work with
unLTDBUSINESS.COM