Edinburgh City Centre
Edinburgh City Centre is a hub for shopping, dining, sightseeing and business and the focus of much investment.  Edinburgh City Centre Management (ECCM) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership set up in 2000 to focus on the promotion, development and improvement of the City Centre.  The Scottish Executive has given ECCM approval and funding to create Edinburgh's first Business Improvement District - a partnership that puts the decision-making power into the hands of businesses to develop andstrengthen existing services.

ECCM has always worked closely with city centre businesses and already has a strong track record of delivering projects and services including the award-winning weekly farmers' market at Castle Terrace; public realm redevelopment on Castle Street; planned public realm projects in St Andrew Square and the Grassmarket; the 2006 International Fashion Festival; and ECCM's successful campaign to reverse the council's traffic management system in the citycentre in 2005.Businesses of every size and type in Edinburgh City Centre face a range of issues that can affect business performance including access around the city centre; safety and security; and the length of time visitors spend in the city centre.  There are a number of ways in which these issues can be tackled including, but not exclusively:-Enhancement of public spaces and the built environment; -Events and campaigns designed to attract more visitors to the citycentre; -Warden teams dedicated to tackling crime and cleanliness issues in the city centre. However, to take these ideas forward, businesses must invest collectively in their future.

The Business Improvement District(BID) concept is an ideal model for businesses to use for this purpose as it supports collective investment and genuine partnership - a model that has been proven to work across North America and England.  Legislation allowing BIDs in Scotland should be in place by April 2007.ECCM will be working with businesses again to create a pathfinder BID in the Princes Street/George Street area of the citycentre.  The success or otherwise of this first BID will influence future decisions to introduce further BIDs throughout the city centre. ECCM has begun consulting with businesses to develop proposals that would add to existing services provided by the public sector.  A business plan will then be put to the business vote, and a BID will be formed.  All businesses in the area will then be levied a fee agreed in the business plan - typically one per cent of rateable value. This, and other funding that can be attracted by the BID from other sources, will be used to fund those projects and services contained in the business plan. The first Edinburgh BID represents an opportunity for city centre businesses to control how their own money is spent in their own area.www.edinburghcc.com/BID_home.htm