Many Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Scotland will be at the forefront of the local response to the COVID-19 outbreak through a £1 million resilience fund made available by Aileen Campbell, the cabinet secretary for communities and local government.

BIDs are collaborative business improvement projects whereby local businesses vote to establish a company to deliver joint economic and business development initiatives from a shared fund.

Local businesses agree to pay an additional levy on top of their business rates to pay for projects that will improve the local economy and business outcomes for businesses and communities alike. There are 37 active BIDs across Scotland with many more in the pipeline.

Alongside the package of measures to support businesses, including a suspension of business rates for some, Scotland’s Improvement Districts, the national centre for BIDs, have suggested that local authorities might agree not collect the BID levy during the current COVID-19 crisis, while the £1 million funding package will allow many BIDs to play a vital role in supporting local companies and town centres during these challenging times.

As part of the COVID-19 BIDs Resilience Fund, Scotland’s Improvement Districts have partnered with Dundee-based web and marketing companies MTC Media and DLR Media to offer an online ordering platform which will allow local towns and cities to process orders quickly through the Hungrrr technology.

Hungrrr has doubled its new client intake after a rush of coronavirus-hit restaurants and hotels signed up for its online ordering, takeaway and delivery system.

Demand for deliveries has soared as people find themselves self-isolating and food and drink businesses’ on-premises trade disappeared almost overnight on the back of UK Government advice.

The system provides a fully branded website for each client, as well as a fully branded app for both iOS (Apple) and Android. This allows those businesses to continue trading at a time when simply answering the phone and writing down orders is not fast enough or scalable enough to keep the business alive. The technology allows them to list their products and take orders with secure online payment via the website and/or apps.

As part of the role out, DLR Media will be helping local towns and cities with the public wide promotion of the service along with helping local businesses with key skills such as social media and direct marketing through webinars.

Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Programme Director of Scotland’s Improvement Districts, said: “The current crisis has made our local high street seem very distant. However, we all want to ensure that our businesses are still there for us when things improve. Digital services that allow us to continue to ‘shop local’ during the lockdown have a crucial role to play now and in the recovery”.

“At Scotland’s Towns Partnership we have been partnering with a range of Scottish-based digital providers such as Hungrrr who can offer a mix of solutions that will encourage more localism, build resilience and help support our local independent business sector through a difficult time. They also allow more traditional businesses to dip their toes into the world of e-commerce in a low-risk and shared environment.”