Annual Report

Transcription

1 Annual Report

2 Background and overview Stratforward Business Improvement District (BID) was set up in 2009, following a ballot of eligible businesses, which supported the development of a series of key business improvements. Stratforward was therefore established as a not for profit Company Limited by Guarantee with the key objective: To bring more people into Stratford town centre, make them stay longer, spend more and leave happy 1

3 Board of Directors 2 Stratforward is guided by a Board of Directors who are representative of the businesses and organisations within the town and the balance of this Board is maintained to ensure that it is business-led. The Board of Directors during was as follows: DIRECTORS The directors shown below held office during the whole of the period from 1 April 2011 to 31st March 2012: R Holdcroft McDonalds S A Jackson The Dirty Duck Ms L A Kimmins Shakespeare Birthplace Trust M A Van Kan Holiday Inn Mrs C Wright Gemini Mrs C L Rolfe Warwickshire County Council Ms S J Aspley Royal Shakespeare Company N W Basnett Tana Travel Ms M B Warters Debenhams Cllr Rev N D Beamer Stratford-on-Avon District Council Other changes in directors holding office are as follows: J M Birkett Project Director - resigned 30 April 2011 P A Huggins Shakespeares - resigned 26 May 2011 Mrs J Sainsbury Bright Ideas - appointed 11 August 2011 Councillor C Thomas Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council - resigned 11 August 2011 S D Powell Bensons - resigned 10 February 2012 Ms S Harris The Flower Shop - resigned 11 August 2011 D S Evans Stratford Rugs - resigned 30 June 2011 C Gregory Project Director - appointed 11 April 2011 M Bullock Murphy Salisbury - appointed 26 May 2011 S E Pilling Cartridge World - appointed 26 May 2011 I F Fradgley Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council - appointed 11 August 2011

4 Notable progress During the financial year, Stratforward activities continued to gain momentum towards the key objective and the Company consolidated its position in a number of areas. The following activities are considered worthy of note: 1. Appointment of Project Director Stratforward appointed Chris Gregory as the replacement for Jonathan Birkett, who left Stratforward in April Merger of Bardwatch Stratforward formally adopted the management of the former Stratford Retail Radio Link and Bardwatch systems and merged the two systems under the banner of Bardwatch Day & Night. 3. Working Groups Stratforward created a series of working groups of BID levy payers to advise the Stratforward Board around the key areas of 1. Events & Entertainment, 2. Bardwatch Day & Night and 3. Marketing & Communications. 4. Street Representatives Stratforward resurrected and revitalised the network of BID levy paying Street Representatives. 5. Newsletters Stratforward launched a series of monthly town centre newsletters to all BID businesses. 6. Annual Action Plan Stratforward developed and published a concise Action Plan for and performance against areas of the action plan is as follows. 3

5 Performance against the Action Plan 4 Events & entertainment Organise the Stratford Fringe & River Festivals. Fringe Festival Stratforward significantly increased the amount of acts to 104 in a total of 43 venues and: Organised performances from local, regional and national performing groups. Increased the scope of the festival content to cover areas from comedy improvisation to educational theatre, jazz and folk to classical music. Incorporated a one day film festival featuring short films by international film makers including one Oscar nominated film maker. Introduced a free festival of music in venues throughout the town, working in association with Marston s and involving Stratford College s on-line TV and radio station. Established a temporary professional fringe art gallery at the Market Space in the Civic Hall. For the first time we booked a high profile headline comedy act Ardal O Hanlon who performed at the Civic Hall, and a local promoter presented Tony Christie, also at the Civic Hall. River Festival Stratforward significantly increased the scope, size and attendance at the Festival and: Created the largest free event in the town centre. Increased the number of participating boats to over 100. Expanded the number of organisations involved to over 50. Attracted approximately 35,000 visitors during the course of the weekend. Significantly increased sponsorship levels for the event.

6 Marketing & promotion Print & distribute at least 4 major leaflet campaigns. Stratforward developed the Perfect for leaflets series, which focused on the ABC1 sector within our immediate catchment of a 30 minute drive radius as well as wider campaigns via Sunday Times newspaper distribution. Three major leaflet prints of 130,000 leaflets were printed as follows: Perfect for Days out June Perfect for Shopping July Stratforward organised 18,000 copies of a Stratford promotional leaflet, which was printed and distributed to local attractions, also via the Welcome Break motorway network and via the Chiltern Railways London Line. Stratforward repeated and expanded the bespoke branded marketing for the Fringe Festival & River Festival to include 40,000 leaflets for each event. Perfect for Food & Drink August Develop and maintain key websites to promote Stratford. The following key Stratforward websites were updated and improved regularly throughout the financial year: Stratforward also developed and populated a new website Stratforward also carried out the following activities linked to the websites: bulletins issued approximately twice per month. Facebook and Twitter functions were established and developed for Stratforward, River Festival and Fringe Festival sites. 5

7 Give the fashion police the day off. Organise a major internet advertising campaign. Stratforward arranged for internet adverts to be placed to secure 3.3m impressions from within the top 100 websites viewed by our target audience. 6 up on style Deliver a promotional radio campaign. Stratforward commissioned a 5 month radio campaign with Touch FM to publicise the Fringe, River & Food Festivals and extended the campaign to include Halloween and Christmas. Commission a major billboard advertisement. Stratforward organised a large scale (48 sheet) poster site near Birmingham Airport which was secured for 3 months between July & October. Penetrate expanded target markets. Stratforward expanded our leaflet and other media distribution to key national tourist information centres to include London, the Lake District, Bristol, York, Chester, Oxford, Edinburgh and Bath. Other marketing activities Stratforward also: Stratford upon Avon Wedding Show Stratford Town Hall Sunday 2nd September until 4pm FREE ENTRY Special Parking rates at Rother Street Car Park Featuring two catwalk shows with the latest fashions from Occasions by Design Bridal Gowns and Menswear by Richard Paul. Plus the forthcoming trends in Mother-of-the Bride and Bridesmaid wear. With fabulous music from The Adam Thomas Band and amazing vocals from Louise Dengate. From Fireworks to Photography the Stratford-upon-Avon Wedding Show has it all, exhibitors include: Lewis and Lewis Photography, Mustard Events, Debenhams, Billesley Manor Hotel, The Legacy Falcon Hotel and many more... Launched the new branding statement of There s so much more to Stratford. Arranged 6-sheet posters for 11 station sites on the Chiltern Railways network. Placed adverts in Flavour and Cotswold Preview magazines and advertorial features in Live 24-7 and Warwickshire magazine. Organised major competition features in both Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail. Achieved significant positive press coverage via press releases and photo shoots. Commissioned an extensive portfolio of new publicity photos. Generated significant sponsorship income to offset a proportion of total marketing costs. Images kindly supplied by Lewis and Lewis Photography.

8 *Proof of address required Enjoy Henley Street late night opening Friday 20th April until 8pm Customer service & safety Continue to employ the Town Hosts to assist visitors, support businesses, manage street entertainment and to uphold the appearance of the town. Stratforward maintained staffing levels for 4 full-time equivalent Town Hosts positions and expanded the range of duties carried out by the Hosts to include: Join us for an evening of live music, street theatre and great shopping. Plus exclusive offers, from Henley Street shops, cafes and restaurants. Visitor and business liaison. Expanded first-aid training. Exclusive offer for local residents Visit Shakespeare s Birthplace for just 1 after 5pm* Enhanced patrol patterns. Additional project focus for all Hosts. More involvement in street entertainment and other on-street issues. Stratford Town Centre Fashion Show 3 May Ensure Business Crime reductions via initiatives such as the management of the radio link systems. Stratforward formally adopted the running of the former Stratford Retail Radio Link and Bardwatch systems to create a combined management structure under the name of Bardwatch Night and Day. Stratforward also: Open Air Fashion Show on Henley Street Thursday 3 May minute shows at midday, 1.30pm and 3.00pm Special guest compere from Touch FM Showcasing Stratford s fabulous fashion Supporting Cancer Research Revised and simplified the charging system. Expanded the number of radios in use. Stepped in to contribute a significant sum to continue the valuable activities of the Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative following withdrawal of Police funding. Generated grant and other funding to improve safety and security in the town. 7

9 Support to businesses in the town Continue to negotiate and offer preferential costs for BID businesses. Stratforward negotiated significant discounts for BID levy payers in the following areas: 8 Car parking costs for the Rother Street NCP car park. Exhibition costs for the River Festival, Food Festival and Business Expo. Advertising costs in key magazines, such as Live 24-7 and Warwickshire Living. Promote and provide new services to assist BID businesses. During , Stratforward: Developed an area of the main website to host business information for BID levy payers. Enacted a system for the Town Hosts to carry promotional information for visitors and for other businesses. Lobby key bodies on major issues affecting the town. Bardwatch Night and Day membership. Developed on-street advertising opportunities for BID businesses via vacant units and information boards. Published footfall information to allow businesses to measure their assessment of performance against that of the wider town. Stratforward ensure that it was a key part of major decisions in the town via the following: Becoming key members of groups such as Stratforward Vision and Stratford Business Forum. Being within the structure for the emerging Neighbourhood Plan. Attending key networking events. Submitting representations on key planning decisions within the town centre, especially that linked to the proposed redevelopment of Town Square. Establishing meetings with key representatives from decision-making organisations. Ensuring that Stratford is well represented in wider bodies, such as the Association of Town Centre Management. Host a business seminar and continue to sponsor the Stratford Business Show. Stratforward hosted a business seminar in conjunction with The Stratford Society in October 2011 and sponsored the Stratford Business Show in the same month. Furthermore, Stratforward contributed 50% of the costs for any BID business to exhibit at the Business Show.

10 Income & Expenditure account Balance sheet as of 31st March Turnover 463,903 Cost of sales 314,984 Gross surplus 148,919 Administrative expenses 80,092 Operating surplus 68,827 Interest receivable and similar income 33 68,860 Interest payable and similar charges 61 Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation 68,799 Tax on surplus on ordinary activities 6 Surplus for the financial year 68,793 Deficit brought forward 23,047 Retained surplus carried forward 45,746 Fixed assets 463,903 Tangible assets 3,558 Current assets 148,919 Debtors 45,731 Cash at bank and in hand 42,349 88,080 Creditors 68,860 Amounts falling due within one year 45,892 Net current assets 42,188 Total assets less current liabilities 45,746 Reserves 45,746 Income and expenditure account 45,746

11 10 Financial statement The surplus for the year ended 31 March 2012 was 68,799 (2011 Deficit 48,891). The retained reserves at 31 March 2012 were 45,746. The policy set by the board of directors is to maintain a level of reserves in the amount of 25,000 to ensure the stability of the company and to enable the company to support unforeseen future expenditure and projects. The excess reserves at 31 March 2012 over and above the 25,000 amounts to 20,746. These funds are included in the budgeted spend for the year to 31 March 2013 to enable the company to continue to promote Stratford Upon Avon and to achieve the key objective of encouraging people to visit the area, stay longer, spend more and leave happy.

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