"Scrap business rates to protect high street" (From Thisisdorset)

The idea of high business rates would put me off opening a small business on the high street. Much better to launch an online retail business instead.

I own a shop in Winton but on a secondary part of Wimborne Rd and my rates are now £9800.00 a year and for that my bins are not empties, I have to pay extra for that serice, another £6.00 per week.

Sorry should say emptied and serviced, keys are sticking on my laptop.

Mark Constantine is quoted as saying that stopping business rates for shops under 100 square foot would provide an immediate boost for small business owners currently struggling to survive.
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I'm sure that under 100sq ft should read 1000 sq ft as the former is very small.
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Cutting business rates hardly seems likely when local councils are encouraging Business Improvement Districts where a supplement is added to the business rates. The real killer is high rents. Commercial retail rents are ridiculously high but it seems that landlords would rather their properties stand empty for months on end rather than reduce the rents.
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Independent specialist retailers can and do thrive, but it takes effort, just buying a load of stock and filling the shelves isn't going to cut it. Where small retailers can beat the big boys is with customer service, knowledge, and being able to respond to customers needs much quicker than the multiples who plan their buying and promotions months in advance.
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Get real. High street retail has had it except for clothing etc. I have just bought a 12kg bag of Symply dog food. Shops around here £48.00. On the internet from a shop with mail order its £42-50 delivered. With petrol I saved £7-00. No parking, no waiting, no seeing if its in stock.

Would Mr Constantine like to propose which local services get cut as a result of the subsequent loss of council income?

The problem appears to be one of balancing the council budget, but ideally there would be small company business rates in the same way there is a small company rate for corporation tax. Small company rates would have to be a LOT lower though (e.g. 10% of the large company rate)

Large companies and large landlords are more able to weather the recession and are quite happy for certain outlets or properties to run on only a small profit or even a loss.

The problem with the big chains is that consumers cannot get what they really want - they get a bland selection of big-brand products. For example, you have to drink Peroni (brewed by the industrial giant SABMiller) if you want beer in a lot of restaurants now - there's no choice and nothing local.

With regard to parking, of course it would be better if town centre parking were free or a lot cheaper and this could be paid for by parking charges at Castlepoint and similar places.

Because there is no local corporation tax, councils cannot benefit from improved profitability in the high street, so they are not motivated to do anything about it.

If business rates go down councils will have to make up the short fall somewhere, where better than to raise our council tax, if that happens people will have even less money to spend in shops whose rates have dropped so they would see no benefit, it's a vicious circle so no body benefits.

Adrian XX wrote:
The problem appears to be one of balancing the council budget, but ideally there would be small company business rates in the same way there is a small company rate for corporation tax. Small company rates would have to be a LOT lower though (e.g. 10% of the large company rate)

Large companies and large landlords are more able to weather the recession and are quite happy for certain outlets or properties to run on only a small profit or even a loss.

The problem with the big chains is that consumers cannot get what they really want - they get a bland selection of big-brand products. For example, you have to drink Peroni (brewed by the industrial giant SABMiller) if you want beer in a lot of restaurants now - there's no choice and nothing local.

With regard to parking, of course it would be better if town centre parking were free or a lot cheaper and this could be paid for by parking charges at Castlepoint and similar places.

Because there is no local corporation tax, councils cannot benefit from improved profitability in the high street, so they are not motivated to do anything about it.

The council do not benefit from commercial rates, they only collect it on behalf of central goverment.

mikey2gorgeous wrote:
Would Mr Constantine like to propose which local services get cut as a result of the subsequent loss of council income?

Probably he would not, he has interests to protect.
However......how about these.
No more unproven, risky, ill-concieved, badly executed, poorly contracted and very expensive Council projects.
No more Council purchasing of incredibly expensive private property for 'reasons' probably not yet publicly known.
No more 'experts' and 'consultants' paid to do the Council tasks Town Hall Officials are already being rewarded 'very nicely' to do.
No more Council fat-cats and un-sustainable pensions at the Town Halls.
Stop all the above and start a bit of Town Hall accountability and business rates could be reduced - or even halted for a limited period - providing a massive boost to the local economy.
Don't agree? For starters then go and check how some of your past Bournemouth business tax is doing in Boscombe - cannot miss it there in the sea, beside what used to be a Pier!

High Treason wrote:
Get real. High street retail has had it except for clothing etc. I have just bought a 12kg bag of Symply dog food. Shops around here £48.00. On the internet from a shop with mail order its £42-50 delivered. With petrol I saved £7-00. No parking, no waiting, no seeing if its in stock.

Why except for clothing etc ?, don't quite follow your logic there.
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Internet shopping is great if you are at home all day or can accept deliveries at your place of work, but a lot of employers don't allow that.
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If you miss a delivery it can be a real hassle to get the item redelivered at a time that is convenient for you.
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I've found the most convenient solution is the click and collect services offered by M&S and John Lewis, where you order online but collect from the store (free parking at Castlepoint & John Lewis Home in Poole).
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BmthNewshound wrote:

High Treason wrote:
Get real. High street retail has had it except for clothing etc. I have just bought a 12kg bag of Symply dog food. Shops around here £48.00. On the internet from a shop with mail order its £42-50 delivered. With petrol I saved £7-00. No parking, no waiting, no seeing if its in stock.

Why except for clothing etc ?, don't quite follow your logic there.
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Internet shopping is great if you are at home all day or can accept deliveries at your place of work, but a lot of employers don't allow that.
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If you miss a delivery it can be a real hassle to get the item redelivered at a time that is convenient for you.
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I've found the most convenient solution is the click and collect services offered by M&S and John Lewis, where you order online but collect from the store (free parking at Castlepoint & John Lewis Home in Poole).
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"Why except for clothing etc ?, don't quite follow your logic there."

Because most people like to browse and try on clothing with much of it being an impulse buy. With white goods etc people shop around after they see something they like/want.

Being the landlord of several shops, I know for a fact that the Government have a number of incentives available to help small businesses with their rates.
For example, if you own a business and operate from one shop, and the rateable value of the premises is less than £6800, you get a full rebate on business rates.
One daft quirk of this set up is that if you are a landlord of an empty shop that would qualify for this rebate, you are expected to pay full rates, which is a joke.

As Mr Constantine is no doubt reading these comments...
What happened about those who lost money when Lush got hacked (in the UK and Australia), did Lush pay compensation? also was there any investigation into what happened?

Maybe the Echo could print a follow-up!

The Renegade Master wrote:
Being the landlord of several shops, I know for a fact that the Government have a number of incentives available to help small businesses with their rates.
For example, if you own a business and operate from one shop, and the rateable value of the premises is less than £6800, you get a full rebate on business rates.
One daft quirk of this set up is that if you are a landlord of an empty shop that would qualify for this rebate, you are expected to pay full rates, which is a joke.

Surely the point of that is to encourage landlords to get premises rented out rather than have them lying empty? This should help small businesses to find premises for a reasonable rent.

No individual in their right mind would open a shop on the High Street, Ridiculous rents being asked from the Landlords which the turnover of a new shop cannot service, coupled with greedy Council tax and mind blowing utility bills.
Only yesterday I spoke to a business manager of a High Street bank and he told me that the bank would not lend to a new start retail shop full stop.
So no lending for the business, ripped off by landlords and utility companies, through the roof council tax, ridiculous car parking fees and easily undercut by the internet.
Could be the reason the High Streets are like Ghost Towns

We hear much criticism of those on the benefit culture who don't want to work but sit at home and claim allowances.

There never seems to be the same comments however about those landlords who set sky-high lease charges on small shops and who also sit at home (in the Bahamas or wherever their sun shines) and let others do the work for them.

Some prices for leasing shop premises are set at obscene rates and the only thing that ensures the lease is taken up by some poor soul is the 'Hobson's choice' of 'If you want it there you go!'

mikey2gorgeous wrote:
Would Mr Constantine like to propose which local services get cut as a result of the subsequent loss of council income?

Suggest we cut back on the £100,000 + salaries + lease car allowances being paid to some of the high level paper-shufflers in local council offices. All they are being paid for is to preside over the demise of the workers who used to staff council services ...and build up their pension pot.

We need to charge the owners of empty high street properties triple business rates rather than reduced rates to force them to sell to landlords who will let them out or even shock horror owner occupiers!. Central government is just pandering to its mates in the super rich land owning league by letting them act like dogs in the manger with our town's high streets. Most are owned by enormous medieval style landlords who just see these shops as speculation and are quite happy to see them empty as they still show up as assets on thier balance sheets. Tax them into being liabilities instead of assets so they have to be let by the landlords to businesses that can make use of them instead of wasting them and ruining their neighbours businesses

The Liberal wrote:

The Renegade Master wrote:
Being the landlord of several shops, I know for a fact that the Government have a number of incentives available to help small businesses with their rates.
For example, if you own a business and operate from one shop, and the rateable value of the premises is less than £6800, you get a full rebate on business rates.
One daft quirk of this set up is that if you are a landlord of an empty shop that would qualify for this rebate, you are expected to pay full rates, which is a joke.

Surely the point of that is to encourage landlords to get premises rented out rather than have them lying empty? This should help small businesses to find premises for a reasonable rent.

I own a vacant shop in Alder Road, Poole and have done everything in my power to encourage someone to rent it but without success. Is it my fault that the premises are still empty then?

The Renegade Master wrote:

The Liberal wrote:

The Renegade Master wrote:
Being the landlord of several shops, I know for a fact that the Government have a number of incentives available to help small businesses with their rates.
For example, if you own a business and operate from one shop, and the rateable value of the premises is less than £6800, you get a full rebate on business rates.
One daft quirk of this set up is that if you are a landlord of an empty shop that would qualify for this rebate, you are expected to pay full rates, which is a joke.

Surely the point of that is to encourage landlords to get premises rented out rather than have them lying empty? This should help small businesses to find premises for a reasonable rent.

I own a vacant shop in Alder Road, Poole and have done everything in my power to encourage someone to rent it but without success. Is it my fault that the premises are still empty then?

Yes-you own it, you're responsible. If you don't want to be responsible, get rid-until then, yes, it's your fault.As long as you own commercial property the government reckons you'll vote for them, so don't start panicking about anything being done to force you to get rid, you are one of their very safe bets for votes.