Obervations of a Christchurch BID Levy Payer
DISCLAIMER
Before I start exposing what I believe is this blood-sucking, scheming system, I need to keep myself anonymous to protect myself and my family.
Yes — ANONYMOUS.
That is how intimidated I feel.
When you are dealing with a powerful, council-backed, statutory enforcement machine, you think twice before putting your name above the door and speaking out.
I genuinely fear being targeted.
I genuinely fear what happens when an ordinary small business owner stands up against a council, a BID company, lawyers, enforcement agents and a system with vastly more power and money than you have.
That is the reality.
So I will remain anonymous.
But I will NOT remain silent.
PART 1
THE BALLOT
RIGGED BALLOT?
SUSPICIOUS ELECTION RESULTS?
On 4 July 2026 — ironically, Independence Day — BCP Council declared the result of the Christchurch BID ballot.
The result?
80 VALID VOTES.
Just 80.
And we are told 60 voted YES to another five years of Christchurch BID.
My immediate question was:
HOW THE HELL DID THEY WIN?
Seriously.
HOW?
Christchurch BID talks about more than 250 levy-paying businesses in the BID area.
More than 250 businesses.
Yet the official ballot declaration tells us that only 80 valid votes were cast.
ONLY 80.
Where were everybody else?
Where were the other businesses?
Where were the hundreds of levy payers who supposedly had a vote?
The turnout was less than 30%.
And from those 80 votes, we are expected to believe 60 wanted another five years of this.
The numbers may be the official numbers.
But from what I hear on the streets of Christchurch, THEY DO NOT ADD UP.
Talk to businesses.
Talk to shopkeepers.
Talk to people actually paying these bills.
You hear anger.
You hear frustration.
You hear:
"I VOTED NO."
"I WANT THE BID GONE."
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH."
Yet somehow the official result says three out of every four people who voted wanted the BID back.
HOW?
There was also one rejected ballot paper, described as unsigned, unmarked or void for uncertainty.
Just one.
Apparently everything else was perfectly fine.
Really?
🤣
ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE THAT STUPID?
Do they think they can look businesses straight in the eye, tell us this was an overwhelming success and we will simply nod our heads and pay?
NO.
SOME OF US ARE ASKING QUESTIONS.
WHO WAS BEHIND THIS?
The ballot declaration was made by Aidan Dunn, acting as Ballot Holder.
Behind the BID process sit BCP Council, Christchurch BID directors, advisers and consultants.
One name that has appeared in BID development in this region is Mo Aswat of The Mosaic Partnership.
Against BID has previously published serious criticism of Mr Aswat's involvement in other BID projects, including the Yorkshire Coast DBID.
Those articles raise questions about whether BID development is genuinely about giving businesses a balanced choice — or whether the entire machinery becomes focused on achieving one objective:
GET THE YES VOTE.
YES at all costs.
YES whether turnout is 70%.
YES whether turnout is 50%.
YES whether turnout is less than 30%.
Apparently it doesn't matter how many businesses actually participate.
As long as enough of the ones who do vote say YES.
Is that really democracy?
Is that really a genuine business mandate?
A BID supposedly exists for the benefit of businesses.
Then WHY would any genuine business organisation celebrate a ballot in which more than seven out of ten eligible voters didn't even participate?
I wouldn't celebrate that.
I'd be asking what had gone badly wrong.
THE REALITY FOR THE PERSON PAYING THE BILL
Perhaps people sitting in council offices regard a BID levy as another number on a spreadsheet.
Perhaps directors regard it as "investment".
Perhaps consultants call it "business-led regeneration".
Let me tell you what I call it.
MONEY OUT OF MY BUSINESS.
Money I worked for.
Money my business earned.
Money I need to pay my rent.
My electricity.
My staff.
My suppliers.
My tax.
My food.
My mortgage.
My family.
And then somebody says:
HAND SOME OF IT OVER TO CHRISTCHURCH BID.
Did I ask for the BID?
NO.
Do I want the BID?
NO.
Did I vote for the BID?
NO.
Do I still have to pay?
YES.
And if I don't?
The council comes after me.
That is why I describe this system as statutory extortion.
You can dress it up with pretty words.
"Partnership."
"Investment."
"Business-led."
"Town centre improvement."
But when the person paying says NO and the answer is still PAY US, what does that feel like?
It feels like extortion.
WHAT THIS DOES TO MY MENTAL HEALTH
Does anybody in authority stop to ask this?
Do they ask what this constant pressure does to a small business owner's mental health?
Because I will tell you.
IT IS KILLING ME INSIDE.
My anxiety goes through the roof.
You wake up worrying about bills.
You work all day worrying about bills.
You go home worrying about bills.
And sitting behind one of those bills is the knowledge that if you refuse to pay, the machinery starts moving.
Demand letters.
Costs.
Summons.
Liability proceedings.
Enforcement.
Bailiffs.
Threats against your property.
That fear is REAL.
Maybe someone sitting behind a desk thinks that is just "recovery action".
Try being on the receiving end.
Try running a struggling business while wondering whether somebody is going to turn up demanding money you haven't got.
It becomes a nightmare.
A genuine nightmare.
And this is supposedly an organisation created to HELP businesses?
GIVE ME A BREAK.
BIDS WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP TOWNS
BIDs were supposedly introduced to improve places.
To make towns more attractive.
To support businesses.
To bring people in.
To make the trading environment better.
Look at what some businesses feel it has become.
DISGUSTING.
UNACCEPTABLE.
DECEPTIVE.
SPITEFUL.
A system where small businesses can feel threatened and terrorised over money demanded for a BID they never wanted.
How did we get here?
HOW?
A small business owner can oppose the BID.
Vote against it.
Say they receive no benefit from it.
And still be pursued for the money.
And people call that "business-led"?
DON'T INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE.
PART 2
THE TRUTH
For the last five years, Christchurch town centre has, in my opinion, been neglected to its core.
Every year we small business owners have struggled.
Some of us have barely survived.
And we have watched others disappear.
Neighbouring businesses.
Friends.
People we knew.
Businesses that somebody spent years building.
CLOSED.
BUST.
GONE.
Meanwhile the costs keep coming.
Rent.
Rates.
Electricity.
Insurance.
Wages.
Tax.
Stock.
And then the BID levy.
It feels like small businesses are carrying the economy on their whipped and bleeding shoulders while everybody else finds another way to take money from us.
Talk to business owners and it feels like survivors comparing stories after a car crash.
And what do I hear?
Again and again:
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT SHOW.
That is why I cannot understand this ballot result.
People tell me:
"I VOTED NO."
Others say:
"I WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR THEM."
Others say:
"GET RID OF THE BID."
Yet apparently Christchurch BID got 60 YES votes.
So AGAIN:
HOW DID THEY WIN?
Only 80 valid votes.
Where were the rest?
Where were the other 170-plus eligible businesses?
Why didn't they vote?
Did they receive ballots?
Did they know who was authorised to vote?
Did the ballot reach the right person?
Did businesses understand what they were voting for?
Was everything properly recorded?
I DON'T KNOW.
But I want answers.
Because from where I am standing:
SOMETHING SMELLS WRONG.
That is my opinion.
And I am entitled to say it.
WE MISSED THE CHALLENGE DEADLINE
Unfortunately, we have now gone past the statutory period for challenging the ballot result.
That makes me even angrier.
Businesses often do not realise what has happened until AFTER the result.
They start talking.
Comparing experiences.
Comparing how they voted.
Asking questions.
And by then?
Too late.
The clock has run out.
And we are told:
ANOTHER FIVE YEARS.
Five more years.
Five more years of compulsory levy demands.
Five more years of paying an organisation some of us never wanted in the first place.
It feels like we are trapped.
PART 3
STATUTORY EXTORTION DRESSED UP AS A BUSINESS LEVY
That is how I see it.
Call it whatever you want.
A BID levy.
A contribution.
An investment.
A business improvement charge.
If I am legally compelled to pay money to an organisation I oppose, and enforcement follows if I refuse, then to ME it feels like:
EXTORTION BACKED BY STATUTE.
There.
I said it.
And I know I am not the only business owner who feels that way.
PAY IT ALL — OR ELSE
With normal business rates, you can generally pay through instalments.
You can contact the council.
You can spread payments.
But with the BID levy, businesses can be faced with demands for payment according to a completely different arrangement.
And suddenly the message feels like:
PAY IT.
PAY IT NOW.
PAY IT IN FULL.
WHO THE HELL DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE?
They supposedly exist to support businesses.
Yet some businesses feel intimidated by them.
That should tell everybody something has gone badly wrong.
SUMMONS, LIABILITY ORDERS AND ENFORCEMENT
This is one of the areas that makes business owners furious.
We receive documents.
Court-looking documents.
Summonses.
Liability proceedings.
Enforcement notices.
To an ordinary person they look frightening.
Official.
Powerful.
Final.
Many business owners do not understand the legal machinery behind them.
And why would they?
We run businesses.
We are not lawyers.
There are arguments circulating about precisely how liability orders are created, recorded and evidenced, and businesses are entitled to ask questions about that process.
If the council says everything is lawful:
THEN SHOW US.
Show us the application.
Show us what happened before the magistrates.
Show us the order.
Show us the record.
Show us the authority.
Show us the complete audit trail.
Why should transparency be controversial?
When people ask questions and struggle to obtain understandable answers, suspicion grows.
That is inevitable.
THE POWER IMBALANCE IS ENORMOUS
Look at the two sides.
On one side:
BCP Council.
Legal departments.
Solicitors.
Enforcement powers.
Advisers.
Professional officers.
External contractors.
Money.
Resources.
On the other side:
Dave with a café.
Sarah with a shop.
Someone trying to run a salon.
Somebody running a little independent business who has barely got time to eat lunch.
WHO DO YOU THINK HAS THE POWER?
And if that individual wants to fight?
Find a solicitor.
Pay legal fees.
Understand regulations.
Prepare documents.
Lose days of work.
Potentially spend thousands of pounds.
Perhaps tens of thousands.
That is not an equal fight.
It is David versus Goliath.
Except David has got VAT due on Friday.
AND NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS
How much more can small businesses take?
Energy costs.
Wages.
Rates.
Rent.
Suppliers.
Insurance.
Card processing.
Professional fees.
Tax.
Everything has gone up.
Some owners are working themselves into the ground.
Then another compulsory bill arrives.
Perhaps that £500 was somebody's grocery money.
Perhaps £1,000 was their mortgage.
Perhaps that money was going towards their daughter's birthday.
Perhaps that business owner hadn't paid themselves properly for months.
And someone sitting comfortably elsewhere says:
YOU OWE US THE BID LEVY.
People need to understand what that does to you.
You work all day.
You work all week.
You worry yourself sick.
Then somebody else decides what your money should be spent on.
It makes you furious.
It makes you helpless.
And eventually it makes you say:
ENOUGH.
This is the testimony of my life.
PART 4
CHRISTCHURCH BID NEEDS TO GO
I believe Christchurch BID needs to be challenged.
I believe levy payers need to organise.
I believe businesses need to stop suffering in silence.
The formal ballot challenge period may have gone.
But our voices have NOT gone.
Our rights to ask questions have NOT gone.
Our ability to obtain evidence has NOT gone.
And our ability to organise has DEFINITELY not gone.
THE PETITION
One proposal is very simple.
Ask businesses:
DID YOU VOTE NO TO CHRISTCHURCH BID?
The official figures tell us:
80 valid votes.
60 YES votes.
That means there were 20 valid votes that were not YES votes.
So what happens if 21 businesses come forward and can genuinely demonstrate they cast a valid NO vote?
What happens if 30 come forward?
40?
45?
Then we have a serious discrepancy.
Does that automatically prove fraud?
NO.
But would it demand an investigation?
ABSOLUTELY.
That is why we need EVIDENCE.
Not rumours.
Not pub talk.
Not Facebook gossip.
Evidence.
Businesses willing to stand up and say:
I VOTED NO.
And ideally evidence supporting that statement.
If you are a Christchurch BID levy payer and voted NO, please contact us.
www.againstbid.org/christchurch
IF THERE IS NOTHING WRONG, WHAT IS THERE TO FEAR?
That is my position.
If the ballot was completely correct:
Fine.
Show us.
If every vote was properly received and counted:
Fine.
Show us.
If the process was perfect:
Fine.
Let people scrutinise it.
But do not tell angry businesses to shut up.
Do not tell us the BID won and therefore we must stop asking questions.
And don't hide behind process.
Transparency works both ways.
WHY ARE SO MANY BUSINESSES ANGRY?
This is another thing I cannot get past.
We all meet each other.
At work.
In town.
Through business.
And sometimes because people have ended up dealing with enforcement over money.
That is when you discover you are not alone.
You meet another business owner.
Then another.
Then another.
And they say:
"THEY CAME AFTER ME TOO."
"I DIDN'T WANT THE BID."
"I VOTED NO."
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH."
Then you look at the ballot result and supposedly 75% of voters supported the BID.
You can understand why people become suspicious.
You would be suspicious too.
BCP COUNCIL
And then there is BCP Council.
There have been enough controversies surrounding BCP Council over the years to make people wary.
For example, the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported in 2022 that a councillor had raised concerns that a particular acquisition could expose the council to an "accusation of potential corruption".
I am NOT saying that proves corruption.
It doesn't.
But when an organisation has faced serious questions before, it should understand why people demand transparency.
History matters.
Reputation matters.
Trust matters.
And trust has to be earned.
Not demanded.
THIS SYSTEM NEEDS REFORM
The wider BID system, in my opinion, is completely wrong.
Businesses can be forced into a five-year levy arrangement following a ballot in which only a minority of eligible businesses even participate.
A business can vote NO and still have to pay.
A business can receive no measurable benefit and still have to pay.
A business can object year after year and still have to pay.
And if it doesn't?
Enforcement.
How can anybody seriously call that voluntary business collaboration?
It isn't.
It is statutory compulsion.
The law may allow it.
That doesn't mean the law is right.
Laws can be changed.
Systems can be reformed.
And the more businesses understand how BIDs actually work, the louder those calls for reform are going to become.
WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?
Another thing I hear all the time is businesses asking:
WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE PAYING FOR?
We already pay business rates.
Then we pay a BID levy.
So show us the money.
Where does every pound go?
How much is spent on administration?
How much on staff?
How much on consultants?
How much remains sitting in reserves?
How much actually reaches projects on the ground?
How much measurable benefit reaches MY business?
These are not unreasonable questions.
It is OUR MONEY.
Why shouldn't we ask?
WE NEED TO LOSE THE FEAR
This is perhaps the biggest thing.
Fear keeps people quiet.
Fear of the council.
Fear of enforcement.
Fear of legal costs.
Fear of being singled out.
Fear of speaking publicly.
That is why I appreciate organisations like Against BID.
They give ordinary businesses somewhere to understand what is happening.
Somewhere to compare experiences.
Somewhere to ask questions that nobody else appears interested in asking.
Knowledge changes everything.
Because once you understand the system:
YOU STOP BEING SO AFRAID OF IT.
And once businesses lose that fear, they start speaking.
Then they start organising.
And THEN things can change.
WE MUST UNITE
This is my message to Christchurch businesses.
Stop thinking you are alone.
You are NOT alone.
If you are struggling with the BID levy:
Speak.
If you voted NO:
Speak.
If you think the BID gives you no value:
Speak.
If you feel bullied:
Speak.
If you want answers:
ASK FOR THEM.
Do not assume everybody else supports the BID just because somebody publishes a press release saying the ballot was successful.
Remember:
TURNOUT WAS LESS THAN 30%.
The overwhelming majority of eligible businesses did not cast a valid vote.
That alone should tell everybody that the full story of Christchurch business opinion has NOT been heard.
MY FINAL MESSAGE
Would I apologise for the language I have used?
No.
Some people might find it harsh.
Some might say I am angry.
DAMN RIGHT I AM ANGRY.
This is my business.
My livelihood.
My family.
My money.
And I am being told I must hand some of it over to an organisation I do not want.
How exactly am I supposed to feel?
Delighted?
Grateful?
This is the reality behind the nice photographs, newsletters and BID slogans.
There are real people behind these levy demands.
Real businesses.
Real bills.
Real anxiety.
Real families.
And some of us have simply had enough.
So my message is this:
ASK QUESTIONS.
DEMAND EVIDENCE.
DEMAND TRANSPARENCY.
SPEAK TO YOUR NEIGHBOURS.
COME FORWARD.
AND DO NOT BE AFRAID.
Because if businesses stand individually, they are easy to ignore.
But if businesses stand together?
That is a very different story.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER.
WE MUST UNITE.
Thank you for hearing my testimony.
Visit the Christchurch BID no campaign webpage here.