Following a promising scoping study, The Means was commissioned by Lambeth Council to undertake a full feasibility study on a possible Business Improvement District in Vauxhall.

Key elements of the study were a financial feasibility study, a visioning event with local businesses, which was attended by 64 people, and a business consultation.

In the summer of 2010, The Means consulted with 100 Vauxhall-based businesses, large and small, commercial and not-for-profit, daytime and night-time economy. Despite the current times of great economic uncertainty, the majority of those consulted felt that a BID was 'a good idea in principle and should be tested in a ballot'.

“As with any BID project, success or failure depends on the commitment of businesses and their representatives. If the support in Vauxhall was turned into actual votes, the total would come encouragingly close to delivering a positive ballot result” commented David Ohnsorge.

A healthy steering group for the project is now in place and an exercise takes place to identify possible funding and in-kind support for a BID campaign. A campaign would include a programme of pilot projects and further events to promote the idea of a possible BID and would end with a ballot, possibly in early 2012.