Memorandum by Selby District Council (SBR
48)
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Selby District Council is one of seven
district councils in North Yorkshire and serves a population of
around 77,600. It is predominantly rural in nature although the
majority of the population is found within the districts three
main towns—Selby, Sherburn-in-Elmet and Tadcaster. Its neighbouring
areas include the towns and cities of York, Harrogate, Leeds,
Doncaster and Wakefield, with the rural East Riding of Yorkshire
to the east.
EVIDENCE
Response to Sir Michael Lyon's proposal for a
supplementary business rate
2.1 Selby District Council supports Sir
Michael's proposals for a supplementary business rate (SBR) and
welcomes the opportunity to increase flexibility for supporting
economic growth at a local level.
2.2 Selby District Council takes its `place
shaping' responsibilities seriously and has promoting prosperity
as one of its strategic themes. The Council recognises the importance
of a diverse and vibrant business economy and is working hard
to ensure that:
"Companies recognise Selby district is
an active and dynamic environment where their businesses can grow
and individuals reap the benefits of a thriving economy through
more job opportunities".
(SDC Corporate Plan 2006-10)
2.3 We agree that businesses are important
stakeholders in local government and that by developing effective
engagement and working more closely with the business community
we can develop the shared objectives required to encourage growth
in this area.
The rationale for introduction of a supplementary
business rate
2.4 A SBR should be used to raise additional
resources for investment in projects to support existing business
growth and to attract new businesses into an area. The additional
resources raised should be directly linked to additional or enhanced
services so that outcomes associated with the investment are clear.
2.5 The definition of suitable projects
should be flexible to enable communities to identify issues and
solutions that are meaningful to them.
2.6 It is important that decisions concerning
SBR take into account the impact on the wider community.
Accountability and approval mechanisms for the
introduction of a supplementary business rate at a local level—the
role of business rate at a local level—the role of business
and the wider community
2.7 It is vital that any approval mechanisms
are transparent. There should be a clear differential between
existing business taxation and a new SBR, with decisions on raising
and spending new resources being made locally in close consultation
with the business community and other key stakeholders.
2.8 Wider stakeholder engagement is already
established through local strategic partnerships and local area
agreements and these should be developed further. We would support
Sir Michaels' recommendation for consultation to be used to support
decision making rather than a voting system.
Consideration of implementation issues including
the impact on local authorities' tax bill and decision making
in two tier local authority areas
2.9 Any proposed system should be as simple
as possible and easily understood. Local Authorities and businesses
need to be able to plan for resources and spending and therefore
SBR should be clear and predictable.
2.10 Where possible a new SBR should build
upon the current rating system in order to keep the burden and
cost of administration to a minimum, with the cost of implementation
and on-going administration being met from the additional resources
raised. In practice it may be difficult to identify the additional
cost of administering a new SBR system and care needs to taken
to ensure that the burden does not fall on Council Tax payers.
2.11 We note Sir Michael's recommendation
that SBR should be levied by upper tier councils in two tier areas,
however we would anticipate that this would be administered by
existing billing authorities (district councils) to enable this
to be bolted on to current arrangements. However, decisions on
the supplement to be levied and how it should be spent should
be the subject of joint decision making processes across all tiers
of local government, the business community and other key stakeholders.
The impact of a supplementary business rate on
equalisation
2.12 SBR should not be subject to equalisation
as this goes against the principle of local flexibility. SDC supports
Sir Michael's recommendation that all revenues raised through
a new SBR should be retained locally.
The appropriate scale of the supplements
2.13 The scale of the supplement again should
be a matter for local determination and agreed jointly with the
business community and based upon the needs of the communities
in question.
The threshold for payments and whether small businesses
should be required to pay
2.14 We would support Sir Michael's proposals
for a national framework for small business relief and would agree
that this should include flexibility at a local level to manage
this. We would also ask that consideration be given to relief
proposals for charitable organisations.
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