Shropshire Council’s response to Chancellor’s business rates announcement

Shropshire Council has welcomed Monday’s announcement by the Chancellor that councils will be placed on a more self-sufficient footing, by being able to retain all of their business rates income in future.

Under plans unveiled by George Osborne, councils in England will be able to keep the proceeds from business rates raised in their area. They currently keep up to 50 per cent of the rates with the rest going to the Government.

Councils will also be able to cut the rate and some will be able to raise it.

Councillor Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, said:

“This news means that we will get to keep more of the business rates that we raise locally, to pay for the services we deliver in our local communities.

“It will also help us as we prioritise our budget commitments for the next few years.

“Supporting new and existing local businesses and helping them succeed and grow, is one of our key priorities, and this announcement will give us more options around how we continue to support local business.

“While the Chancellor’s announcement will have an impact, we are still presented with challenges in the longer term around how we match business rates with future demand for premises and this will require careful planning by our business and enterprise team.

“We are still working through the implications of the announcement and how the potential to retain 100% of the business rates we collect will offset diminishing grants, the increasing costs of services and new responsibilities that have yet to be announced.

“We currently receive £44m of Revenue Support Grant which we expected would be phased out by 2020/21, and any additional funding that is not tied directly to new responsibilities may help offset some of this reduction.

“We will now need to carefully consider the details of this announcement. To be sure that this change will help business across Shropshire to grow, we will have to look carefully at what new responsibilities the council will gain, how the business rates we collect are to be distributed, and what impact there may be on other grants we currently receive.”