Lincoln Business Improvement Group (Lincoln BIG) was created by businesses in Lincoln city centre who voted to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in April 2005. It is a business in its own right and is controlled by a board of directors drawn from stakeholders in the city centre. Lincoln BIG has three day time wardens on its staff. They are also piloting six evening wardens using agency staff to look after the evening economy.

Lincoln was the first BID in the East Midlands. The BID has just given the wardens another five year mandate showing businesses' satisfaction with the wardens' work. The wardens are a visible presence in the BID, area issuing FPNs for dog fouling, litter and enviro-crime. They also have ambassadorial, and janitorial/super-caretaking roles in the city centre, delivering a service over and above what the local authorities provide. The view is that the quality of the street scene is vital to improving the retail experience of the city centre and the wardens aim to create a ‘sparkling public realm.' This includes things like painting benches and bollards and removing graffiti to ensure the appearance of the city centre is always fresh. It also includes keeping an eye on vacant premises, improving the trading environment and brightening up the windows of empty shops.

Incidents dealt with by day-time wardens are all recorded on an AIMS database which shows that they dealt with over 1000 incidents last year ranging from needle-finds and fly-poster removal, through to stray animals and administering First Aid.