Roughly 465 businesses in Ipswich town centre will decide this summer whether to renew the organisation behind safer streets, festivals and public art for another five years. Ipswich Central launched its Manifesto and Five-Year Business Plan for 2027-2032 on Monday 1 June, setting out a projected £4.74 million budget for the town centre over the period.
Levy payers get their say in a ballot that opens on 19 June and closes on 16 July, with the result announced on 17 July. If approved, the next Business Improvement District term would begin on 1 April 2027. The levy rate proposed is 2 per cent of non-domestic rateable value from 31 March 2027, climbing 3 per cent each year. Properties under £24,500 rateable value are exempt. Total income over five years is forecast at £4,741,516, with annual spending sitting around £895,000.
The plan rests on three pillars: Standards, Campaigns and Festivals. Targets include winning a Britain in Bloom award by 2030, having the most public art in the UK by the same year and “creating the environment for the next Ed Sheeran.” It also promises to host Suffolk’s Christmas festivities on the Cornhill. Chief executive Lee Walker, an Ipswich-born leader two years into the role, said the next five years would build on existing work. Ipswich Central points to recent achievements such as deterring more than £361,200 of shoplifting and supporting 230 arrests, transforming Stoke Bridge Wharf and running the “Welcome Home Ed” campaign that handled 90,000 tickets.
Board chair Steve Flory, also Ipswich-born, said the board was “100 per cent focused on ensuring Ipswich Central’s work makes the town feel like a place people choose to visit, work in and invest in.” The ballot needs a simple majority of votes cast, but also requires that the total rateable value of properties voting in favour outweighs that of those voting against. Ipswich Borough Council collects the levy at no cost.
For the plan to take effect, the BID must also maintain at least four My Local Bobby officers on the ground, commission three new public art pieces each year, scale up the Sip’Swich and Forknight campaigns and develop what it calls the biggest promotional channels in the East by 2028. A legacy from the town’s City of Culture 2029 bid, with a shortlist due in the coming months, is cited within the document.
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