Northampton Town Centre Business Improved District (BID) has moved to explain the voting process after further questions were raised following the Chronicle & Echo’s report on the number of businesses defaulting on paying the levy.

Earlier this week, the Chron revealed more than 200 town centre businesses had been sent court notices by West Northamptonshire Council over unpaid BID bills so far this year.

The findings prompted one St Giles Business to question how many businesses really backed the renewal of BID, given the high number of people not paying the levy. The business, who did not want to be named, said that given only 20 percent of businesses voted, and the Chronicle & Echo report on the numbers facing court action, it painted a picture that businesses did not want BID but are being forced to pay by the minority that did.

Like others recently featured in the Chron, the business raised questions over the cost and return of the BID levy.

Mark Mullen, chief operating officer of Northampton BID, defended the ballot and said all levy-paying businesses had been given the opportunity to vote.

He said: "All levy paying businesses were given the opportunity to cast their vote in the ballot as part of a fully transparent and democratic process.

"The dates and process of the ballot was communicated to all businesses repeatedly in the weeks and months beforehand, with a wide range of printed and digital communications, a video campaign across social media channels, and in-person meetings in the town centre.

"In order to develop the BID Proposal and Business Plan and gather business views about the projects to deliver, surveys were mailed out to all businesses. Almost half of all businesses received a personal face-to-face visit from a BID representative, covering businesses of all sizes and from a wide range of sectors, and all businesses were invited to workshops.

"For the BID to be successfully renewed, it required more than 50% of voting businesses to cast a 'Yes' vote, and those businesses needed to represent over 50% of the total rateable value of all votes cast. Both of these criteria were met, with 82% of votes cast in favour of the BID Renewal Ballot by total number of businesses, and 88% of votes cast in favour of the BID by Rateable Value.

"As a result of the yes vote, the renewal of Northampton BID commenced in April 2026 and businesses with a rateable value of £5,000 or above will pay a levy based upon their rateable value, creating a collective fund of more than £2.2 million to spend over the next five years.

"We are now working hard to deliver on the Business Plan that businesses voted in favour of and we are playing our part in shaping a safe, vibrant and welcoming town centre that we can all be proud of.”

How the vote is calculated

The Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) is funded by a charge paid by businesses in the town centre. Its role is to help improve, promote and develop the town centre.

BID has recently entered its new five-year term, running from April 2026 to March 2031, following a ballot in October 2025.

The official ballot result shows 151 votes were cast out of around 850 businesses in the BID area. Of those 151 votes, 123 voted in favour and 28 voted against.

The turnout was officially recorded as 20.77 per cent, meaning around one in five businesses took part in the vote.

The rules for the ballot did not require every business to vote. Instead, the BID could be approved if a majority of those who actually voted backed it.

There was also a second test based on the size of the businesses voting. The votes of businesses with bigger rateable values carry more weight when the total rateable value is added up.

For example, a large property such as the Grosvenor Centre has a much higher rateable value than a small independent shop, so its vote represents a much larger slice of the total rateable value.

The BID levy itself is also not necessarily the same percentage for every business. Larger businesses can pay a lower percentage, while some smaller businesses can face a higher rate.

The 123 businesses which voted Yes had a combined rateable value of £6.04m, compared with a total of £6.87m for all businesses that voted.

So the BID passed both tests – a majority of businesses who voted said Yes, and the businesses voting Yes also represented more than half of the total rateable value of the businesses that took part.