Where does Southport BID spend your levy?
A line-by-line breakdown of the 2024-2029 Business Plan budget. All figures are taken directly from Southport BID's own publicly available documents.
Every factual claim in this report is sourced from publicly available documents, linked directly below. SIBA welcomes corrections or responses from Southport BID and will publish them in full at damian@siba.digital
Data source: Southport BID Business Plan 2024-2029. View the original PDF
If your business is on Lord Street, Chapel Street, Market Street, or any of the other streets in Southport's town centre, there is a good chance you are paying the BID levy right now. It is not optional. You cannot opt out. And it increases automatically every year.
The figures below are taken directly from Southport BID's own published Business Plan for 2024 to 2029, publicly available at southportbid.com. SIBA has not adjusted, estimated, or interpolated any of these numbers.
The levy income
In year one of the current BID term, which runs from November 2024, the BID collected approximately £448,211 in levy income from around 720 Southport businesses. That figure rises automatically every year. From year two onwards, the levy rate increases by 3% per annum regardless of performance or prevailing business conditions.
Over the full five-year term, total projected levy income is £2,379,613.
Projected levy income, 2024-2029
| Year | Levy income | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (2024/25) | £448,211 | Baseline |
| Year 2 (2025/26) | £461,657 | +3% |
| Year 3 (2026/27) | £475,507 | +3% |
| Year 4 (2027/28) | £489,772 | +3% |
| Year 5 (2028/29) | £504,465 | +3% |
| 5-year total | £2,379,613 |
Source: Southport BID Business Plan 2024-2029, p.14. View PDF
Where it goes
The BID's own budget breakdown for year one is as follows. All figures are taken directly from their published Business Plan.
Year one expenditure breakdown
| Category | Amount | % of spend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | £150,000 | 33% | |
| Activation | £100,000 | 22% | |
| Celebration | £75,000 | 17% | |
| Collaboration | £20,000 | 4% | |
| Operating costssee below | £110,000 | 23% | |
| Total | £455,000 | 100% |
Source: Southport BID Business Plan 2024-2029. View PDF
The operating cost question
£110,000 per year in operating costs, every year for five years, totals £550,000 over the term. That is more than the entire collaboration and celebration budgets combined. It is more than what the BID spends on actually representing the interests of Southport businesses.
The Business Plan describes operating costs as 23% of total expenditure. This is not unusual for a BID of this size. But it is worth knowing, particularly when the organisation collects a compulsory levy with no opt-out mechanism.
£110,000
Annual operating cost
£550,000
5-year total
23%
Of all BID expenditure
What YourSouthport actually is
Many Southport businesses and visitors encounter YourSouthport and assume it is an independent local guide. It is not.
The BID's own 2024-2029 Business Plan states that YourSouthport was launched in August 2022 and lists a named member of the BID team with the specific job title of Your Southport Marketing Manager. That individual is listed in the Business Plan alongside the CEO and Head of Operations as part of the BID staff structure.
The Business Plan also states, under future strategy for promotion: “Southport BID will continue to invest in the ‘Your Southport’ platform as the primary means of advertising town centre businesses to residents and visitors.”
And from the BID's own homepage, in their own words: “Your Southport is the platform we use to celebrate the people and businesses that make our town centre special.”
Three sources. One conclusion.
- 1.The Business Plan lists YourSouthport as the BID's primary marketing tool, funded by the levy.
- 2.The Business Plan lists a named paid BID employee whose sole job title is Your Southport Marketing Manager.
- 3.The BID's own homepage describes it as “the platform we use” in the first person.
Sources: Southport BID Business Plan 2024-2029 (PDF) and southportbid.com (homepage, April 2026).
The BID values the content produced through YourSouthport at over £200,000 per year. That is the BID's own assessment of the value of content produced by its own paid employee, using levy funds. No independent verification of this figure is cited in the Business Plan.
The transparency question
The BID's resources page states that board meeting minutes are available on request by emailing info@southportbid.com. They are not published publicly.
For an organisation collecting nearly half a million pounds per year from businesses that have no choice but to pay, routine publication of board minutes is a reasonable expectation. It is standard practice for many comparable public-interest bodies.
What SIBA says
SIBA is not arguing that Southport BID has done nothing of value. The Christmas lights exist. The floral displays happen. The crime reduction network operates. These are real.
What SIBA is arguing is that businesses paying a compulsory levy deserve to know exactly where every pound goes, to see board minutes published routinely rather than available on request, and to have access to independent digital infrastructure that does not depend on the BID's goodwill or membership.
Before July
The Open Championship comes to Royal Birkdale in July 2026. 150,000 visitors. Potentially the busiest trading period Southport has seen in years. Every business in PR8 and PR9 needs to be findable, optimised, and ready. SIBA provides free digital audits and local SEO support to help make that happen, regardless of whether you are a BID levy payer or not.
Primary source
Southport BID Business Plan 2024-2029 (PDF, southportbid.com)All factual claims in this report are sourced from the document above or from southportbid.com (accessed April 2026). SIBA welcomes corrections or responses and will publish them in full. Contact damian@siba.digital