Business Improvement Districts play a vital role in place leadership and rejuvenating the High Street. Twenty years since the Business Improvement District legislation was first enacted, it is positive to see the ambition of the government to strengthen this legislation and further enhance the important investment Business Improvement Districts add to support growth and revitalising the places they serve. I was personally delighted to see the city of Leeds and the achievement of our Business Improvement District acknowledged in the Government’s Pride in Place Strategy. (25/09/25 Pages 28/29)
MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover was a world first, ‘integrating Hasbro’s iconic game with the dynamic spirit of Leeds.’
MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover was a phenomenal success, bringing a unique public animation across Leeds city centre. It ran for five weeks from July-September 2024 and drew over half a million people who explored themed zones, solved puzzles, and played mini-games, while learning about the city’s special connection to the world’s favourite board game.
Leeds was the home of Waddingtons, the company which produced the UK version of MONOPOLY and made the London properties famous.
The takeover explored 22 key locations, with a huge 8-10% increase in footfall resulting in £6.6 million spent in city centre businesses.
The government paper recognises the impact of place shaping projects like MONOPOLY on the city of Leeds and wants to see more of this across the country.
Business Improvement Districts started in the capital and worked their way northward and across the country. Leeds was the 200th BID in the UK, established in 2015. BIDs outside of London cannot give property owners a formal role in shaping local priorities and the government has ambitions to change this to ensure all areas can access the same tools to support growth and revitalise the high street. In Leeds, we have very strong informal arrangements with property owners but are delighted that proposed changes in the legislation will level the playing field and further encourage growth in our city.
In my 22 years of involvement in Business Improvement Districts, I have been a strong advocate of industry standards, improved governance and accountability. To complement the government’s ambition, they wish to act to make BIDs more transparent and accountable and will consult on improvement to the very old-fashioned voting procedures that BIDs must undertake every 5 years. This will in my opinion reduced the regulatory burden on both the public and private sector, giving BIDs more time and resource to focus on delivery, investment and growth.
Business Improvement Districts are created by the places they serve and should be at the forefront of this strategy as non-political and not for profit organisations whose primary objective is to achieve improvement.
Leeds continues to actively support the HSUK campaign to tackle the most pressing issues facing the UK’s flagship high streets and unlock local and national growth.
Andrew Cooper. Chief Executive, LeedsBID
