Release date: 19/03/2010
By: Eyvind Ryans
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020 8871 6031
or email eryans@wandsworth.gov.uk
Government hikes business rates
Thousands of local businesses have received letters this week confirming sharp increases in their rates.
Businesses in Balham are among the worst affected. Shops on Bedford Hill will see bills rise by up to 98 per cent and some Hildreth Street firms face hikes of more than 50.
One small shop on Granville Road, Wandsworth Town faces an increase of 107 per cent while Garratt Lane businesses have seen increases up to 78 per cent.
Traders on Northcote Road, Clapham Junction have also been hit with double digit hikes.
Business rates are set by the Government at a national level.
Wandsworth is the only local authority in London offering support to local firms struggling to meet rising rates. A Hardship Relief scheme was launched last year and has now been extended by another 12 months.
The scheme targets those firms pushed to the wall by increasing rates and so far more than 50 local traders have received help paying their bills.
The council is also campaigning for the powers to set Wandsworth's business rates to be devolved to the town hall. This would offer local firms protection from the inconsistencies of a centralised system and the opportunity to benefit from the authority’s low tax policies.
Deputy council leader Maurice Heaster said:
"The Government's mismanagement has left hundreds of local firms facing disaster. Across the borough there are wild inconsistencies with businesses in some streets facing rises of more than 100 per cent.
"Alarmingly, the Government has calculated the new 2010/11 business rates using rental values from 2008 - the height of the commercial property boom.
"These rents have dropped significantly over the last two years due to the recession but the new tax rates are being pegged to the peak market values.
"This has inflated the rateable value of many small firms above the £6,000 Small Business Rates Relief threshold. This means their bills automatically double as they lose their entitlement to a 50 per cent small business discount.
"These companies are already struggling to survive the recession and simply cannot cope with a destabilising hike. Ministers have proved once again that they are blind to the needs of small businesses."
More than 90 businesses in Balham have signed a petition calling on the Government to postpone April’s revaluation and to rethink their approach to calculating rates. Local business owner and chair of the Balham Partnership Vicky Stothard said:
"The Government should be helping town centres to improve - not adding to their
costs during a recession."
Local businessman and chair of the Northcote Business Network Andrew Wilson-Smith said:
"This will be fatal for some of the independently owned businesses on Northcote Road. Doubling the overheads of small businesses during a recession is symptomatic of the poor leadership this country is facing under the current Government."
For more information on business rates and to find out how to apply for the council's Hardship Relief scheme visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/businessrates
The top picture shows Cllr Heaster on Northcote Road, Clapham Junction meeting members of the Northcote Road Business Network who back back the council’s campaign.
The bottom picture shows Cllr Heaster on Hildreth Street, Balham meeting local business owners affected by the new rates hike.
Ends
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