Other News
Chancellor backs London Councils' call to cut business rate demands
Sector: Local Government
Date Created: Thu 2nd Apr 2009, 11:00:57Source: London Councils
Link: http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk
UK - London Councils has welcomed the announcement that businesses across the capital and the rest of the country will be spared a potentially crippling increase in business rates from 1 April.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, today backed the call by London Councils to reduce the planned 5 per cent increase in the National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR) - more commonly known as business rates - to help support businesses through the recession. Mr Darling announced that businesses would now face only a 2 per cent rise this year and the remaining 3 per cent would be smoothed out over the following two years.
The announcement follows calls by the leaders of London's boroughs in a letter to the Chancellor earlier this month, to protect the capital's businesses from a business rates double whammy.
hat a 5 per cent increase to the figure used by government to determine business rates, coupled with the ending of 'transitional relief' - which previously provided protection from large increases - would prove hugely damaging to London's small businesses.
Among the ways Cllr Cockell outlined that would help protect the capital's small businesses was to lower the figure used to calculate the business rates.
