Discretionary Rate Relief – Autumn 2017
Ashford Borough Council
Opens: 25 September 2017
Closes: 6th November 2017
The revaluation of business rates by the Valuation Office Agency took effect on 1st April 2017. This has led to some businesses, including some in the Ashford borough, seeing large increases in the rateable value of the premises they occupy.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has now stated that the government has put in place a £300m fund to enable local authorities to put in place a discretionary rate relief scheme. This is intended to help businesses apply for assistance if they have suffered from the impact of the first revaluation for seven years.
Ashford Borough Council has been allocated a share of the £300m funding pot to cover a four-year period, with £350,000 funding confirmed for year one and £175,000 for year two.
The government has issued guidance for local authorities and the council has put together a proposed scheme to help those business ratepayers who have suffered significant increases following the recalculation of the rateable value of the premise they occupy.
We are now consulting on our proposed scheme and invite you to comment. Please read the information in this summary document and then comment via this consultation portal.
You can respond to this consultation before 11.59pm on Monday 6th November 2017. Once the consultation has closed, an ‘output report’ showing all the responses received will be available on the council’s website from Friday 10th November.
Cabinet will meet on Thursday 9th November 2017 and consider the responses to the consultation. Full council will then consider the cabinet’s recommendations on 14th December 2017 and agree how the scheme will work for the remainder of the 2017-18 and then the 2018-19 financial years.
Consultation Documents
- Discretionary business rate relief – our proposed scheme for Ashford
Please read this short four-page document that provides information on how our proposed scheme would work – then please take a couple of minutes to respond to the seven questions in our survey. Thank you.
Respond to this Consultation
Consultation Links
Consultation Summary
| Name | Discretionary Rate Relief – Autumn 2017 |
|---|---|
| Description | The council is consulting on its proposed discretionary rate relief scheme, following announcement of a funding allocation from government to help businesses adversely affected by the Valuation Office Agency’s revaluation that came into effect on 1st April 2017. |
| Dates | From 25 Sep 2017 at 00:00 to 6 Nov 2017 at 23:59. The results will be published by 10 Nov 2017. |
| Status | Open |
Ashford Borough Council 25 September 2017
https://haveyoursay.ashford.gov.uk/consult.ti/Discretionary_Rate_Relief/consultationHome