CV One BID Organisation
From the beginning CV One was not seen as a town centre management initiative, but as a ‘BID-in-waiting’ providing the vision and clarity needed to drive it forward 
Dr Martin Stockdale
A BID in Waiting
CV One had been a BID-in-waiting since 1998 when the City Centre Company (which later merged with Coventry & Warwickshire Promotions to form CV One) was set up as the nearest possible equivalent to a BID in the UK. A mature & experienced organisation, CV One is now a clear leader in this field. Its widely-acclaimed and highly successful model, which has since been adopted by other towns and cities in the UK, has been a driving factor in BIDs legislation being passed.
The Coventry Model
Operating with around 90 staff, from five sites in central Coventry, CV One is responsible for carrying out a huge number of tasks, from managing car parks, CCTV and street cleansing to public events and conference and tourism work of all kinds. It has an annual budget of more than £9 million. It is only part of CV One’s activities - the voluntary membership schemes - that is covered and extended by a Coventry City Centre BID.
Membership Schemes
At the heart of CV One’s core activities lie commercial membership schemes covering City Centre businesses, principally retailers and leisure sector operators. Measured by mutually agreed key performance indicators, these successful membership schemes have delivered the additional services and improvements in the business environment that the members have both identified and invested in. It is these membership schemes which formed the backbone to, and has since been replaced by the BID.
Successes
Over a six year operation life, CV One has achieved:
A cleaner City Centre - with a night time cleansing regime and ‘quick clean’ hit squads.
- A safer City Centre - Coventry is a beacon city for community safety, built on the extensive Crime Reduction Operation, including CCTV coverage of all subways to the centre and an Evening Ambassadors scheme.
- Improved perception - through its ‘Coventry It’ extensive marketing campaign, visitor website and promotion.
- A greener City Centre - Gold medal Britain-in-Bloom winner and regional category winners 2 years running. National winner 2004.
- A busier City Centre - The Business Vitality programme has attracted new independents, including a specialist children’s shop and an upmarket bar/restaurant, developing a differentiated offer.
- A livelier City Centre - An events programme now worth £1m per year.
Partnership
Core funding comes from Coventry City Council, but the Company is in effect an arms-length organisation with an independent Board of Directors, drawn primarily from the private sector, as well as the local authority.
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