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How Business Improvement Districts Power Stirling’s High Street
We dig into how Business Improvement Districts turn collective business funding into real services that change a city centre, from festive lights and free Wi‑Fi to safety radios and secure crime intelligence. Danielle shares her path from hospitality to national leadership and how Stirling is preparing for its next five-year plan.
• what a BID is and how ballots mandate five-year plans
• how Stirling partners with council, chamber and STEP
• festive lighting as a footfall driver and city signal
• free city Wi‑Fi and member advertising on the network
• nighttime safety via PubWatch, radios, CCTV and police link
• secure retail crime reporting and cross‑city intelligence
• training platform delivering 10,000+ certificates
• Independent Stirling as a consumer brand and directory
• consultation ahead of renewal and possible zone changes
So welcome back to Studio King Street for another episode of the Sterling Business Podcast. And today I'm delighted to welcome Danielle McCraw Smith from the Go Forth Sterling Bid Business Improvement District. Danielle, you wear multiple hats, one of which is obviously representing Sterling with regards to bid. So why don't we uh stop by just uh finding out a little bit about yourself and um the backstory in terms of uh how you uh got into bid and uh what you're currently doing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Thank you very much for having me. Um so backstory on how I uh found myself in the business improvement district sector. Um I was actually in hospitality um and um in some of the locations that I was managing hospitality sites in, they had bids. They had business improvement districts. So the first one um was Dunfermline, um, and there was a um fantastic lady, uh Lisa Edwards, that introduced me to bids, really, in Dunfermline. Um I was there as one of the levy pairs, and she asked me to join the board. Um that was aligned quite well. So they were running for ATCM's purple flag award at the time. They were really quite keen to have hospitality representation on their board. Um so yeah, I joined the bid board then.
SPEAKER_03:And was that before they became a city as well?
SPEAKER_00:Er no, it was when would that have been? Gosh.
SPEAKER_03:A few years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it must have been before I I actually think that might have been back in 2015, 2016. So probably, yeah. Um yeah, so Dunfermline Delivers was my my first insight into bids, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great what we were doing, the collaboration, bringing all the businesses together. It was a fantastic networking opportunity for us. Um, but as a board representative there, I was able to find my area that I could help and assist the bid, and that was by cheering the pub watch, by bringing all these different um projects together with the bid, focusing on late-night economy, safety, etc., in the city centre. And then from that, um Go Forth Stirling was established very early in their first term, and they were they did a calling.
SPEAKER_03:What year was that roughly?
SPEAKER_00:That would have been Go Forth Stirling, uh, probably about 2018-2019. Um, yeah, they were looking for board members. Um, and I was also licensee at the time of FUBAR Nightclub in Stirling, which is obviously the bid boards. We'll go into the the makeup of a bid and how it comes about, but the what you look to have on a bid board is good cross-representation of the sectors, also your key levy payers with the larger rateable values represented there to help drive forward what the strategy and purpose is of that bid. Um so I joined Go Forth as a board member um while I was my hat was as licensee of Hoobar Nightclub. Okay. Um and then from there um became vice chair, became chair, and while in my time as chair at Go Forth, um we were we were just having a tricky time. We were heading towards the end of the first term, we'd had a little bit of a turnover in staff and whatnot. Um I was diving in, we then had some absence in our staffing team, and I said, right, okay, I'll tell you what, I'll um I'll dive in here um as a as a non-executive and I'll help out operationally just as a little interim to steady the ship. And that was 2020.
SPEAKER_03:And the rest is history.
SPEAKER_00:The well, actually, you know, my first day in the office kind of as that diving in very short term was March 9th. Um, is it is that 2021? Goodness, when is what was the pandemic year?
SPEAKER_03:Uh 21.
SPEAKER_00:21. So March 9th, 2021, managed five days in the office. The next Monday I walk in, and of course, we get the announcement that night for lockdown, far low, everything happening, and never more than ever have businesses in Sterling or anywhere else needed support. So the bids just overtook my life at that point, and we're still here today.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Okay. So for the audience then, explain what a bid is because I think it's um you know it means many things to different people. But from somebody who kind of runs the bid here in Stirling and has representation in other areas uh with other bids, what would you describe the best description of a bid?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so um business improvement district essentially um they started back in the 60s in Canada. Um a little a smaller area um near Toronto was the traders all kind of club together, got together, and were not satisfied. I think at the time there was an introduction of a rail service that took um all their footfall um and the benefit of their trading environment into the city. And they were really feeling the effect in this area. So um the idea was everyone gets together, makes a contribution to a pot that was then born into business improvement districts. They all get together and they decide, as the business community, what that area needs for the benefit of their trading environment. Um so essentially the bids are in all different shapes and sizes, do all manner of projects and things now across the world, of which there are thousands. Um, but the idea behind them being born and starting out is still the same as that very first one in the city in the 60s and that traders want to take matters into their own hands. It's a complementary service of the local authority or all the other statutory bodies in an area. Um, but essentially a business improvement district is a geographical zone. So imagine, you know, in Stirling we draw a nice shape round what we determine to be the kind of core business area where most of the businesses are concentrated or the higher footfall, and we draw a circle around that and we go out to ballot and we say, you know, through a democratic election, um, do you think it would benefit if all of you's club together made a small contribution into this business and that business will deliver services that will benefit the area, and the best bit about it is you decide what those projects are. You know, so um every business improvement district is made up of a board predominantly of businesses and levy payers of that area, and they direct the business improvement district. So um the best example I've got because across so there's 433 bids across the UK, they represent 155,000 businesses.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Um in Scotland there's 34 bids, and our 34 bids across Scotland represent 11,000 businesses, and there's 23 in the pipeline right now, just in Scotland. Um so with my other hat on, um I look after Scotland's improvement districts, which oversees all 34 and the and any pipeline bids. So any local areas looking to introduce a bid or traders that come forward and go, I think we would really benefit from this, um, then they would come to Scotland's improvement districts and we would work through the process with them for um getting to ballot, if you like the route to ballot. So Glasgow City Centre is about to go to ballot, the papers go out next week, and that will totally change the landscape.
SPEAKER_03:And it's a five-year cycle to pretend for the ballot.
SPEAKER_00:So essentially how it works is you are fixed in for five years. You go out, this is my business plan, this is what I want to do, vote at this in. If obviously it gets voted ahead, it becomes mandatory for every business in that area, which is the thing that makes it fair. You know, you don't want to be contributing it because you believe in it and you want the benefit and you want the success of the town, but the business next door doesn't want to, so it makes it mandated as a contribution. But the good thing about it is it's mandated for five years, which means at the end of that five years, if you say aren't happy, you aren't seeing value, then don't vote. Absolutely. And it also gives you the opportunity that after five years you keep reassessing and you might pivot what works, what the strategy needs to look like for the next five years.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. Because what we did in COVID in our first term, um in that lockdown phase, and it was all about business support and signposting and all sorts of things like that, is very different to what Sterling needs right now. Um so yeah, so we we our current term, we're in our second term, and that ends in 2027. Um we will then be looking to go ahead for the next five years from 2027, and what that looks like we're currently shaping with the board.
SPEAKER_03:So what what is the role that you um you play on on a national level then? So the Scotland Improvement Districts, I believe you're the kind of uh program manager of of that um of SID, as they call it. So what does that entail?
SPEAKER_00:Um so yeah, so SIDS um is so Scotland's improvement districts um funded by Scottish Government to be the um the umbrella organisation, if you like, for all the bids across the country and also any that are like Scottish Chambers and the local chambers.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Same concept, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Same concept. So Scotland's improvement districts, they provide um advice, support, you know, help with governance, um, help get those bids that are coming through to ballot, um, and it are able to also dive in if there's issues um and if there's you know a an intermediary between the bids and sometimes the local authorities or otherwise. Um Scotland's improvement districts just acts to kind of keep the network together and keep it collaborating and help promote best practice, etc., across the bids. Um and then another hat that I wear that had prior to Scotland's improvement districts, so I'm on the Board of British Bids.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um so the British Bids is obviously UK-wide, 433 bids and doing all manner of services as a membership organisation.
SPEAKER_03:How consistent is that from British to Scotland to go down to the kind of region local level?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well in terms of the messaging that comes down and the messaging is all really simple uh similar. The the Scottish legislation is slightly different from the English legislation, only in very minor little areas. Um but we obviously, as SIDs, guide prospective bids or developing bids through the process or existing bids through the renewal every single five years and make sure that everything follows the legislation. So those differences to Scotland and England are only very minor. But one thing that England doesn't have, or Wales or Ireland, of course, is they do not have an organization that's local government, well, Scottish government appoints SIDS to help that process. Down south, that has to be done through consultancy. You know, so there's not a um south of the border, there's no seed corn money. And the seed corn money is really uh a fund, a pot for bringing business improvement districts through that, you know, those areas, those geographical zones can apply to the government and ask for look, we'd like to deliver a bid. Yeah, you know, can we get a bit of a grant here um to help us do it? Down south, that would really need to be done via loan. Um, and it's it's costly. It's a very long process to get to ballots, specifically your very first ballot. You know, you need at least a year to do the work involved, and typically of a larger area you need to employ someone. Um, so Scotland are, in my view, really, really lucky to have support from Scottish Government to have the SIDS umbrella organisation and to have as much collaboration together through the network that they do.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, great. So, in terms of um the other business supporting entities around Stirling, okay, so I'm thinking of the likes of the Chambers of Commerce, uh, we've got Business Gateway with STEP, obviously the council, you know, economic development team get involved from time to time in terms of supporting local business. How do bids interact with those uh those other entities?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so to varying degrees, of course. Um, the chamber, we work alongside the chamber. Some of the bids across the country are incredibly involved hand in hand with the chamber. Uh, let's go Glasgow, the new Glasgow City Centre bid. Um, you know, it's the chamber in partnership really trying to deliver that. Um, but in Stirling, you know, it's it's what the needs of the businesses are. You know, the bid literally is here to act in the best interest of the businesses. So we have a brilliant relationship with local authority and with Stirling Council. Um, we work alongside them as a complementary service to assist the businesses. Um and that's you know, not a relationship that comes or is to be taken for granted as something that we have worked on a lot over the years, and it's like anything else, had peaks and troughs. Um but just now, you know, we have a very good working relationship in terms of you know certain projects that we deliver that are important, but they're a bit budget constraints. So, you know, we do uh a share of we're we're contracted together for the festive lighting in the city centre. Um, and we we each, you know, as in GoForth Sterling Bid and Stirling Council, we pay a proportion of that cost every year together. Um so there's all sorts of different things that we supplement that they they do as a statutory service. And the key thing about bids is it's additionality. We do it over and above, and then we work alongside STEP as well. We've got um one of our board members, we've local authority has someone appointed to sit on our board, so that that's all hand in hand. Zach same with STEP. Um so sterling.
SPEAKER_03:Predominantly the business gateway function, so if there are services that business gateway can offer to the local businesses in the catchment of the of the levy, you can broker that and put those put those services together and be offered there.
SPEAKER_00:To be honest, it's so that we're all singing from the same hymn sheet. Um, you know, STEP, um Mike from STEP and I met uh quite a few years ago now, um, and when he was newer in post, and it was like, right, you do training, we do training. We should be having a lot of conversations, we should be aligned here to make sure that we are offering different training. And if you've got something that those that come to me could benefit from, we'll signpost there.
SPEAKER_03:And likewise, yeah, um, so no duplicate NFAD cost everything that goes on.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, absolutely. So STEP isn't currently within the bid zone, um, they sit outside the bid zone, so they're not a contributing levy payer, for example. Um, but it's really important for us that they are on the board in an advisory capacity as well, so that they're in tune with what the bid's doing. And that's why, as well, we have the local authority on the board of representative, because we want to know if we're talking about this is an idea and this is what we want to do, to have an officer from the local authority there as well, it might be something that's already be getting done, then you know, or it might be something that we can work together on.
SPEAKER_03:Something that's in plan that we don't want to, you know, double effort Obama and Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:And there's you know, there's a few projects going just now that the local authority have initiated um that the bid are partnering with them on um that to supplement we can do a bit of this, you can do a bit of that. It'd be much better if we work together on this and make sure that there's a really strong business voice.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. And in terms of some of the services that bid offer to the levypayers and and and this in the city centre, well, can you give us just a few examples? You mentioned the festive lights, that's a great example of what other types of things are.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, festive festive lights are you know huge. I think I think people underestimate the impact and importance of that for footfall and for the attractiveness of our city centre. We completely overhauled them a good few years ago now, and we took them back to we we pulled out all the old sterling Facebook pictures of how it used to be, the you know, everyone used to call it the glory years. Um, and we literally got custom designed lights, King Street right outside us here. They're gorgeous, and and they're quite statement Christmas lights. These kind of things come at a cost, and it was we wanted to do that as a project together. Free City Centre Wi-Fi, um, the bid funds manage operates that. It also then gives all the businesses the functionality to advertise on it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um, that is you know free and open to any of our members. Just let us know. You want to, you know, we put surveys out on it, we can put videos out and out in it, we can advertise if you've got an event. Um, and it has a lot of um logins, an unbelievable amount of logins, actually. So that for us is a key service to making sure that our city centre is as welcoming as possible. You know, the Christmas lights are to make sure it's vibrant. Um we have um a number of things on our kind of safety and security banner, if you like. So we have um the I mean, we are of course involved in every kind of partnership meeting there possibly is um with all the multi-agencies, police, etc., talking about issues. You know, we've got another one on Friday where we're constantly meeting to assess and make the city centre better from a safety perspective. Um, but the bids then goes that little bit further. We fund the nighttime economy so the pub watch radios, we facilitate the pub watch. Um, that's grown from strength to strength in recent years. We have a a pub watch that's a ban from one, ban from all. So the businesses all come together um on a regular basis and say, you know, this is an incident we've had, this is an individual. I don't want them in there. So actually, all the businesses have an agreement that attend PubWatch that, okay, well, if they misbehave on yours, they don't get into mine. And I think that's a very key, important message for the city centre and for elevating the safety in the nighttime. Um so, in addition to that, they're all connected by radio link. CCTV is also connected to that radio link, the police are connected to that. So there's a constant immediate communication in the nighttime economy that one premise, radios and other premises, some such and such just has been, you know, might be underage and is refused access. This is what they're wearing, they're coming your way, and that's how they they and then all collaborate. And then the bid obviously funds that network and the cost of that um to bring that all come together. And then further afield on the kind of safety perspective, we have we work with RACs, um so retailers against kind. So they have um you know a membership organization, if you like, as well, um, and we offer that membership to our members and it's a similar platform, right, to what the one you've just described to connect the the um Yeah, you know, retail fifth and things like that by the same thing. Yeah, Century Sys. So Century Sys online portal has an app on the phone, everyone um can log in, can report instances, it's entirely safe. You know, everyone's signed up to information sharing protocols. So it allows them to share images, share CCTV, which in this day and age you can't be putting on WhatsApp groups, you can't be putting on Facebook and closed account. You know, you have to be really, really cautious about the integrity of that data. So by having sentry sys and the bid then funds the membership of that for any participating business, we can then have um a lot of insight and intelligence and deal with things a lot quicker. You know, we've we've had quite a few really good success stories out. That crime committed, you know, that trader uploads picture, instant detail of that crime. Um, someone else is on it, they know exactly who that is. That helps identify Police Scotland's then aware much quicker and everyone collaborates. So, yeah, it's it works really, really well. It works fantastic in other areas that have had it for a lot longer and they've got more people participating, but you know, budget constraints, we have less police presence. Yeah, there's no denying that. Police Scotland don't deny that. Um, but what can we do to help? And how do we get more um police on the streets? Well, you know, that is decided by needs and by calls that are coming in and by reports that are being made. So if you're not reporting it, you're not helping with overall picture and stats here, you know, just saying, oh well, I didn't bother saying anything. So we're hoping that CenturySys can supplement that and help us get to a better place quicker. But we're not unlike any other town or city centre.
SPEAKER_03:They're all trying to do something similar.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:But in terms of, you know, is the connectivity across city centres as well?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So because people will typically hop from one hundred percent down to the other, right?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, and that's what's we've been doing crime intelligence briefings recently with RACS, where they'll say, you know, just to try and emphasize the importance of communicating on Century Sys to say, you know, we've got a known, we have all this intelligence, we've got a known group of individuals, and this is what they do. They shoplift, they're doing it in Glasgow. And when they do it in Glasgow, we can guarantee you they'll then come down and they'll hit Falkirk this amount of time later, they'll hit Sterling then. If you are on and participating and using this app or platform, you'll get a notification to your phone, say that makes you aware, and then you can prepare for that and identify who the individuals are, um, or make the take the necessary steps. So um, yeah, in an ideal world, this is how all the seamless stuff um can work together. The bid is just here trying to encourage our members to use it, giving them access to it, no extra cost, and then onto another kind of key project of ours is training. Um our training platform um is available to any of the businesses. There's a lot of, we've got about 24 courses on there. A lot of them are our business. This was born out of um the COVID pandemic era and when everyone was working from home. But, you know, especially say in food safety, um there are a lot of mandatory costs on the businesses for training and for certification that are a requirement for them to trade. So a lot of those key courses are on there that saves the businesses that cost. Um, and we've trained in exit, we've certificated in excess of 10,000 people now through our training platform, which you know is significant. That's 10,000 courses. I cannot quantify the cost to the businesses off the top of my head, but it's significant in a savings. So we're we're beaving it away in the background, all these different projects and things.
SPEAKER_03:And so we hear a bit of um we've heard the branding of independent sterling. What is that specifically? Because I know it's kind of affiliated with bid, um, but what what specifically is that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so independent sterling, again, born out of pandemic era, um, that we realized we had GoFour Sterling's very much a B2B brand. It's business to business, it's levy payers, the you're our members. This is the information you need to know. Um, but what we didn't have was a B2C brand. So business to consumer. So go forth bids, what are we doing to actually market these businesses, showcase them, do more. So independent sterling was born out of um in the pandemic that I actually was walking in Leicester of all places, and Leicester has a fantastic, really successful bid. I was down there meeting with them. What kind of stuff are you doing? What can we steal and using Sterling? Basically, absolutely no shame in saying that. And what I noticed was I was walking down one of their high streets and I saw these stickers that said, I'm an independent, come visit me. And I was actually heading to go and find like a Starbucks or a Costa and buy my coffee before my next meeting. Um, and I it stopped me in my tracks and I went, You're absolutely right. I should be going into this local, unique, independent business and spending my money there and get my coffee there. And I can guarantee you it will be more unique to that area. So what we did was we we stole the idea, essentially. Um, but Simon Jenner at Leicester is absolutely fine with that, you know. Um we've not stolen it. Exactly. We've we've we've it's in full complements of what some of the projects that have done there. There's been some other ones we might have stolen as well. Um, but what we did was we went out around in um the pandemic, in the depths of lockdown, and things were popping up on Facebook saying, you know, I'm still trading, but you can pick up, or you know, there was the farmed and the eggs, and everyone was trying to and we created a directory of what was open, what was trading, what you could still use. Yeah, what you could get during the pandemic, and but focused on independent businesses because with the best will in the world, those were the ones that needed our help. Um, you know, we have national businesses in our zone that are our members too, but independent businesses are the bread and butter of Stirling. That's what makes Stirling unique. Yeah, we are so close to Edinburgh and Glasgow. You know, if you want to go to a national, you can jump on the train and you can go to the cities and they're enticing you to them. You know, with we're not going to compete with St. James Centre. No. However, where we will compete is the unique stuff and the independent businesses and all the unusual reasons to visit Stirling, in addition to obviously our landscape and our historical attractions. Um, so we've got an online website, independentstarling.co.uk, it has a full directory of every independent business in Sterling. It takes quite a lot to keep up because believe or we've had 26 new businesses this year alone. Um and then you can also view a trail and a map on that website by sector. So I can click on it. And if I think if I travel somewhere and I'm maybe going to a wedding, and I'm like, I really would like a hairdresser, you know, female going to a wedding would like to have my hair done. How do I find a hairdresser? I'm Googling hairdresser in that unknown area to me. You go on independent sterling, you kick on click on hairdressers, and it shows you the map of Stirling City Centre, and they're all there, and it has all the contact details and all the backlinks through to their stuff. So it has that for every sector that's an independent business. So really it's celebrating all the unique reasons to visit Sterling, the stories behind them, there's blogs, there's you know, what is the backstory of that? A little coffee roster down at the bottom of the absolutely, um, or a really unusual business that, you know, you know, the Greek food across the road, you know, what is the backstory behind them? So it's got a blog, it's got the the the stories behind makes it human as well. Brilliant. And then you can go about Sterling and go and find the stickers and make sure that you are spending your money on the bottom.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely stickers. Very good. So we're kind of coming to the end of our conversation here. So um I'll just kind of wrap up by asking you what what are the objectives and priorities for the next 12 months for go forth? Bid.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we are now in that uh rundown to ballot in this next 12 months. So really we are going to be preparing for what our next five years look like. Um what our strategies gonna be for the city centre? Is our bid zone gonna be bid zone? Every five years, things change, you know. At the last term, we expanded, we added in extra streets that we were. Absolutely. Um and we decided what our priorities are. So um really we are kind of going to be going, we this is an opportunity for us to go back to basics to say and to assess all the things that we deliver now. Is this still what the businesses want? And to do that is a huge piece of consultation that we'll be going out. There's 633 businesses in Sterling City Centre. We will be going to them and saying, what do you want to see? Um, I mean, an unusual example of a bit is they don't just have to deliver the cleaning safety, these header projects. You know, New York, Times Square is famous for a really big New Year's Eve celebration. And I'm I'm not giving in and away here and saying this is what the new route of go forth is going to be at all. But it's the that bid is there in delivering, you know, the businesses have directed Times Square Alliance, Business Improvement District, to put on the greatest show for New Year's Eve, and it's really aspirational. So um my point on that is we've got the opportunity every five years to totally pivot and say to the businesses, what do you want? Do you want us to keep delivering training and Wi-Fi and all these different things?
SPEAKER_03:So do you want us to go big and make a big impact for everybody?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, or do you want us to use this membership fund annually to do one thing? Um and I am not closed off to any ideas. It will literally be down to the consultation process that we'll do over the next year.
SPEAKER_03:Brilliant. Okay, well, thank you very much, Danielle. That's been uh very interesting to uh hear about not just what's happening in Stirling but how that fits into the geographic uh location of Scotland but also the whole of the UK in general. And it's good having a kind of foot in all those camps because you obviously see the best of all worlds, like the Leicester example that you gave earlier on. So thank you for uh coming along and spending time.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks very much.