Secretary of State to probe election process which returned Stratford BID for five-year term

STRATFORD BID’s new five-year term has been put on hold while the Secretary of State investigates claims about issues with the ballot process.

The result of the election was announced in February and was a win for the Business Improvement District. It was announced that 75 businesses from the 138 that voted had backed the BID and its business plan.

But the result was almost immediately challenged by BAGS (Business Action Groups Stratford) which wrote to Michael Gove, the then Communities Secretary, to argue that the ballot of local businesses was invalid.

The group claim that the poll was unlawful because it was “the wrong type of ballot”. BAGS maintains that the ballot – organised by Stratford District Council – was not a “renewal vote”, as claimed, since the terms of the election were different from the previous one.

They pointed out that BID had raised the rateable value threshold for voting from £9,500 to £15,000, thus disqualifying 110 businesses from taking part, and had expanded the geographical area of the BID to include the Maybird Centre, off Birmingham Road, and Morrisons supermarket, off Alcester Road.

BAGS is adamant the ballot should have been for a new BID, not a renewal.

Stratford BID, in its newsletter, said it “regrets to announce a postponement of planned initiatives and projects” as a result of a challenge lodged in respect of the ballot result.

It added: “The BID board was eager to commence the execution of the exciting initiatives from 1st April following the successful ballot. Plans were in motion, including the recruitment of a new BID manager and the ongoing tender process for a food festival contract for the next five years, with the anticipation of appointing a supplier next week.

“However, the Secretary of State recently notified BID of the challenge to the ballot result, triggering a process that is expected to take several months to resolve.

“As a result, the positive work that was planned to be delivered will be put on hold while the challenge is under consideration by the relevant authorities.”

The BID said it would work behind the scenes to make sure its projects would be ready to be implemented once the outcome of the challenge is determined.

As previously reported by the Herald, Stratford District Council said it could not stop the ballot after it had started and advised a challenge would need to be made within 28 days of the result.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has confirmed that the next few weeks will be an opportunity for all parties involved to offer formal written responses.

Only after that can the Secretary of State begin to consider the arguments.