BID FAQs
Enjoy Kings Heath provides various products and services to both support and promote businesses in Kings Heath, as well as the surrounding areas.
For example:
- Installing and operating Christmas Lights/Tree Lights
- Contracting Street Wardens to patrol the area and deal with issues
- Coordinating and organising events, often in conjunction with other local groups:
- Queens Heath Pride;
- Street Fest;
- Eid in Kings Heath;
- Kings Heath Unity Weekender.
- Promoting local businesses and events via @enjoykingsheath social media channels.
- Liasing with volunteers in order to:
- Maintain the planters;
- Pick up litter;
- Removing graffiti.
- Liasing with the local authorities on behalf of our members:
- Birmingham City Council;
- West Midlands Police;
- KIER (Road Maintenance Contractor).
- Working with local community groups, including:
- Kings Heath United Against Racism;
- Our Scene CIC;
- Friends of Kings Heath Library.
Enjoy Kings Heath does not have the power to do this. The LTN is a Birmingham City Council project, and is largely funded with money that has been ringfenced by the central government.
Given the wide range of views amongst our business community, Enjoy Kings Heath has always maintained a neutral stance towards the LTN. However, it has been able to secure business-only consultation events and it has challenged the Council in order to ensure that issues will both be considered and dealt with.
We have also submitted the most comprehensive response to the consultation of any stakeholder in the Kings Heath area, which you can read here.
You can find further LTN support here.
The Board serve the interests of Kings Heath’s business community as a whole, as set out in the Articles of Association and Business Plan.
In the interests of transparency, all Board Members are required to register any and all of their interests; contact info@enjoykingsheath.com to request a list of these.
If you are a member of Enjoy Kings Heath and have a different opinion on how this should be done – join the Board! There are a maximum of 15 spaces for Directors on the Board, but they often aren’t all full, so do get in touch if you’re interested in helping to influence the direction of Kings Heath’s future.
If you have an issue with shoplifting or something similar, you can contact Simon, who leads our Street Warden team, on 07956 540 288. Our Street Wardens patrol the whole BID area several times a day.
Enjoy Kings Heath’s Retail Radio scheme is largely used by nation-wide businesses, due to the £1/day cost involved but the wardens are there to support every business and are available to all. However, national retailers do suffer a larger percentage of business crime and our wardens save them thousands of pounds weekly.
Enjoy Kings Heath shares a close relationship with all of the schools within, or bordering, the BID area. Although schools no longer pay the BID levy, they represent an important part of our local community and as such, Enjoy Kings Heath will continue to work closely with them on various projects in and around the area.
If you would like to stay abreast of what Enjoy Kings Heath is up to, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We can put you on our business mailing list (if you aren’t already) and answer any further questions that you might have.
Again, please get in touch!
Whatever your issue, we will do our absolute best to help you out, whether that be through marketing and promotion, or the various benefits that accompany your complimentary membership with BIRA.
The reason that York Road has recently been the focus for Enjoy Kings Heath events is that it is fully pedestrianised. Whether you agree or disagree with the LTN in principle, while it’s here we might as well make the most of it! Its pedestrianisation means that we no longer need to apply for road closure permits, as the road is already closed.
That being said, we have made an effort to broaden our events to include other parts of the Heath: The Parade car park; Kings Court; the Village Square; Heathfield Road; Silver Street: and will continue to do so in future.
Every Director on the Board brings their own experiences, opinions and areas of interest. All Directors are required to declare any interests that could or do raise conflicts of interest.
If you would like to request a list of the Directors’ declared interests or review the minutes from Board meetings, please get in touch.
Most BIDs across the country will have a representative from the Local Authority on their Boards, certainly every other BID in Birmingham does. Like every other business that is represented, BCC pays a BID levy to Enjoy Kings Heath, in fact it pays a higher levy than any other business, so has a right to sit on the Board as a levy payer.
The Board asked Birmingham City Council to nominate an appropriate Councillor to join the Board, which they did after following their own internal protocols.
Having the Council on the board offers further advantages as well. Dealing with BCC can be tricky and frustrating, and having close ties at Board level clears some obstacles to dealing with the local authority.