Council calls for share of £83m business rates

NEWBURY Town Council is demanding a slice of business rates from central government.
West Berkshire Council currently collects around £83m from businesses and hands approximately £66.3m straight back to the government, while the town council does not receive any money.
At a meeting of the Liberal Democrat-controlled town Council on Monday, the motion to approach central government for the funds was put forward for approval.
And while the Conservatives mainly agreed with the motion, they decided to abstain after council leader Julian Swift-Hook rejected the request to hold a further meeting in order to gather more information.
Mr Swift-Hook said: “It seems to me to be fair and equitable to seek a contribution from the town’s businesses towards the facilities and services that Newbury Town Council provides to support those businesses and to make Newbury an attractive place in which the businesses can operate
“Just to be absolutely clear, I’m not suggesting that the level of business rates should be increased - I’m not asking Newbury’s hard pressed businesses to pay a penny more in rates.
“Nor am I suggesting that West Berkshire Council should forego any of their £16.7m share of the income from business rates.
“What I am proposing is that central government forgoes a very small amount of the locally collected business rates that it retains, and passes that amount to us.
“For example, one third of one percent of the total business rates collected in West Berkshire would be just over £277,000. A pittance in the context of the £83.2 million that is collected overall, or the £66.3 million that the government keeps for itself.
“But if distributed among the town and parish councils in West Berkshire on the basis of the tax base, for example, that could mean an additional £54,000 a year going to Newbury Town Council to support the work we do providing and subsidising services for Newbury’s businesses. Yet the impact on the government’s finances would be unnoticeable.”
The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) have voiced their support, but last summer the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) responded to approaches from the NALC by saying that there were no plans to change the way that parish and town councils were funded.
Mr Swift-Hook added that a number of other town councils have been pressing for this change.