The Chancellor George Osborne has announced that local Councils will be able to set the level of business rates and that the national uniform rate will be scrapped. Local government will also be able to keep the business rates they collect as opposed to the current mechanism where Councils have to send them all to central government.
I very much welcome this bold move that will better enable local Councils to develop their local economies. In particular, I believe this policy has the potential for the Council to help reduce the number of empty shops in Crawley town centre. This has long been a concern of Crawley residents which is why I have tabled the following Notice of Motion for next week’s Full Council meeting, which I hope that all Crawley Councillors will support:
“Local business rates are set by central government at a uniform national rate. They are collected by local councils and transferred to central government to be distributed back out across the country. Local councils such as Crawley Borough Council, which represent areas with a dynamic and growing local economy, disproportionately lose out through the current system.
As a local authority that welcomes the transfer of decision-making powers from central to local government, this Council resolves to:
1. Write to the Local Government Association to state its support for the principles of greater local retention of locally-collected business rates and of greater local control over the setting of business rates;
2. Carefully examine the detail of the proposal in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Statement to change the business rates regime and as a result of these changes, look for potential opportunities to benefit the local economy;
3. Consult with the Crawley business community to seek their views on the proposals to change the business rates regime and on the current levels of business rates payable;
4. Explore the potential that lowering business rates could have on reducing the number of empty shops in Crawley town centre.”
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
14th October 2015