Resolved –

Council notes that:

1.         Small businesses are for life, not just for Christmas!

2.         Small Business Saturday, which was launched in 2010, takes place on Saturday 7^th December, promoting the  fantastic opportunity to ‘shop local’ and support local shops and businesses

3.         The run up to Christmas is a very important time for local shops and businesses and many car parks are full during this busy time so free parking would not be able to deliver any benefits in these locations

4.         The rise in internet shopping along with unrealistic rents, unreformed business rates and changing trends in how people spend their time are causing unprecedented changes on our high streets

5.         Bradford Council has a wide range of business support in place all-year round to help start-ups and facilitate business growth, including:

a.    Invest in Bradford – our ‘one stop shop’ contact point for business support within Bradford District. Members should direct enquiries on business support to the Invest in Bradford team where one of our advisors will contact the business and discuss what support is available

b.    Seed funding for Business Improvement Districts in Keighley, Bradford and Ilkley, with whom we work in partnership to provide support for all businesses within their area

c.    City Centre Growth Scheme – business rate rebates and capital grants have helped over 240 businesses, filled 100 previously empty units and created 600 FTE jobs

d.    District Growth Scheme – business rate relief for the town centres of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley and Ilkley, heritage relief for bringing listed or key heritage buildings back into use and business rate relief to support business growth in new developments

e.    Markets – we offer introductory rents for new traders at all our markets to lower the barriers to entry and encourage entrepreneurialism

f.     Ad:Venture programme – support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with access to advice, masterclasses and funding of up to £25k for capital expenditure.

g.    Northern MAX - A high growth accelerator programme aimed at tech start-ups and young businesses. The next phase will be run from the Digital Exchange over a 12-14 week period and will start in early January/February 2020.  This is the 3rd Accelerator to be run in Bradford to serve the Leeds City Region and will be delivered by a specialist service provider which is currently being procured.

h.    Wider support packages, some in partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnership, covering Skills, Growth, Digital Enterprise, Resource Efficiency and more

Council resolves:

(1)       To instruct officers from all areas of the Council such as Invest in Bradford, Communications, Visit Bradford and Bradford Markets to consider ways of supporting Small Business Saturday including working with external partners such as the BIDs

(2)       To engage with public transport operators to discuss how we can better promote public transport across Bradford district over the Christmas period and beyond.

(3)       To urge councillors and residents to shop locally all year round to support our local business community.

ACTION:       (1) all Strategic Directors, (2)Strategic Director Place