HUNDREDS of businesses within York’s inner ring road are being asked to help raise £750,000 a year to secure the city centre’s future.

The Press can reveal that the city-centre could be made a Business Improvement District, paving the way for action to tackle problems such as drunkenness and antisocial behaviour but also to market the city and ensure it puts on a sparkling Christmas lights display.

Businesses are set to be balloted by next September on whether they would be willing to pay a one per cent levy on their business rates to help fund a York BID.

The idea is the brainchild of City Team York, a private sector body established in 2012 following Mary Portas’ report to the Government on the future of the high street.

Chairman Adam Sinclair, who runs fine china business Mulberry Hall, has written to all businesses to explain the proposal. He said that while the city centre was the jewel in York’s crown, it faced the same challenges as high streets across the UK – from the rise of online shopping to the challenge of maintaining an historic centre.

“As businesses in the city centre, we all stand to benefit from a thriving York city centre, but we also stand to lose if we do not take action to support its performance in future,” he said He said BIDs had been growing across the UK, and had been successfully introduced in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

“BIDs are about helping cities like York to compete with nearby out of town retail parks, the internet and other local shopping centres, to safeguard footfall and spend, make the city cleaner and safer, support existing businesses and attract new shops and businesses into the city, and we think a BID could be the answer."

He said a City Team study had identified that a BID, owned and controlled by city businesses, could secure annual funding in excess of £750,000 per annum which over a five year BID term equated to at least a £3.75 million investment into improving areas of the city centre.

“Over the next few months we shall be talking to business owners in the city about the BID concept,” he said. “We want to engage with businesses, explain the benefits and seek their support."

He revealed that a recent survey of more than 800 city centre businesses had identified three key issues which businesses wanted to be addressed: *Increased policing of anti-social behaviour and drunkenness *Improved street cleaning, enforcement and emptying of bins *Reductions in the cost of doing business in York.

Mr Sinclair said a BID could tackle these problems but it would also be aspirational, seeking to promote the city and resolve the city's long-running difficulties in putting on a top class Christmas lights display.

He said a ballot would not take place until next September, and 51per cent of all businesses and also 51 per cent of businesses by floor space would be needed to vote in favour for the proposal to go ahead.

Frank Wood, who runs Braithwaites jewellers and is chairman of York Retail Forum, said he thought a BID was a 'great idea.'

He said: "Businesses will have the opportunity to say what they want to happen, and will be able to raise the funds themselves to make those things happen.

“Businesses will work together to take on a plan for the next five years, and will be legally obliged to carry out that plan, so there’s no turning back on spending the funds.”