YCBID Not Viable?
A Letter to the Editor from WILLIAM PARKIN, of Staithes, questioning the viability, ‘going forward’, of the Yorkshire Coast BID Ltd. Is it time to invoke Article 18 of the BID (England) Regulations 2004?
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Dear Editor
Yorkshire Coast BID Limited
The Balance Sheet for Yorkshire Coast BID Ltd has been submitted to Companies House, showing that, as of 31st July 2021, the Company held £729,622 in the Bank and showed £684,987 as unpaid Levy and perhaps small outstanding accounts.
Since then, the Company has issued invoices for a further £826,000, of which £593,000+ has been collected and £233,000 remains outstanding. Collectively, that amounts to a total net worth of £2,240,000 minus a relatively small amount spent/wasted on events like https://www.yorkshirecoastbid.co.uk/project/puffins-galore-sponsor-colony/ .
The Company claims that £1m has been committed. As a bystander, it seems to be promised to the Arts and Theatre Groups, with a few quid spent on things like Christmas Lights. There is nothing to promote the area for enticing additional day-trippers to the area, such as advertising in Leeds or Sheffield, on television or radio. The target visitors seem to be all very ‘Middle Class’ and not at all the real cash spenders on a day-trip to the seaside.
There are this year’s salaries for the various clerks who turn up each day – or possibly work from home watching Holly and Phil – and a few bits and pieces of other administrative costs/rent to take off as well.
There have been no new Directors added to the Board for a year and as they do no longer publish Votes in their minutes, how can the required 81/19 majority be assured?
Oh yes, people decline to vote (i.e. abstained). See minutes at the bottom of https://www.yorkshirecoastbid.co.uk/about-us/
Indeed, I would be very surprised if anyone with real business experience would want their name linked to the BID. Indeed, one Director on the Board has not attended for two years yet the Company is accepting proxy votes from her!
Did you know that Yorkshire Coast BID Ltd has set up a separate company for the supposed road YC Route https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13469494 Why? More expense, although it does protect the supposed ‘Registered Trade Mark’ – however, I cannot see it on the Trade Mark Register!
Saying there has been a pandemic doesn’t wash with the Levy Payers. It has affected everyone alike and with all the additional costs coming up through a break from paying funding for something that no-one wanted – apart from those who are paying themselves at the expense of Levy Payers, some of whom have to choose between heating and eating.
After 18 months of declared planning – the reality is probably 4+ years – plus being in a ‘trading’ existence for 30 months, can we use David Davis MP’s phrase: ‘In the name of God, Go!’
Yours sincerely
William Parkin
Staithes
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