In July Flashop UK Ltd and People & Places hosted the Oxfordshire High Streets Conference. It took place for a day in the growing town of Bicester. A topical location with its town centre scheme having been open now for three years. Neil took the floor to discuss "Filling the empties" which was a discussion of why the property market for town centres is broken and how with his colleagues he has been able to take action to overcome the barriers, getting the shop units occupied. Click to see a summary of his discussion. This is the ink for the draft 2017 Rateable Values. https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/view-my-valuation/search
It seems that without exception town centre shops in Banbury will benefit from reductions. For instance the former Stead and Simpson shoe shop at 4 High Street will see its RV reduce by 30% which is typical of reductions on the High Street.
Of course if you are on Small Business Relief then these changes will have less significant impact but if you are not then there are potentially savings to be experienced from April next year. Be aware that Transitional Relief applies which means the full benefit of the reduced RV will not come through on bills immediately - i.e the reductions will be phased in over a period of years. This is to offset the Transitional Relief for those experiencing an increase in rates payable in other parts of the country or on other types of property.
Those who have been waiting for reductions to take effect will no doubt feel rather aggrieved by the further irritant of the transitional rules.
As a separate matter, I have yet to see the full details of the changes to the Small Business Relief rules also due from April next year but the word on the high street is that qualifying businesses with an RV of £12,000 or less will pay NO rates from April 2017 and those with RV between £12,001 and £15,000 will see tapered relief. (These are improved benefits from the current scheme). Good news all round. Let’s hope when the rules are announced that the Government makes them a permanent arrangement rather than their current habit of confirming the rules for the next 12 months only.
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