Bishop’s Castle bowlers charged business rates – after 300 years
Thursday 3rd February 2011, 7:00PM GMT.
Members of one of Shropshire’s oldest bowls clubs have hit out at Shropshire Council – after being charged business rates for the first time history.
Bishop’s Castle Bowling Club dates back 300 years and, due to its location on the site of the keep of the former castle it has a unique octagonal green.
Club officials have had a notice from the revenues and benefits department at Shirehall saying they will have to start paying rates from next year.
It has drawn an angry response from club treasurer Barry Jones, who has insisted it is a not-for-profit organisation, which gets no help with maintenance, lighting or refuse collection.
He has written to Shropshire Council asking why the charge is being made and accusing Shirehall officials of trying to generate revenue at the expense of small clubs and groups.
Mr Jones today said: “We are only being asked to pay something like £140, but that’s not the point. We don’t make use of any services and installed disabled facilities at our own expense.
“I think it’s a damned cheek and it’s similar to being asked to pay a gas bill when you your house hasn’t got a gas connection.”
The club has 28 players and has teams competing in the Tanners Shropshire League and Ludlow and Church Stretton leagues.
Shropshire Council was unavailable for comment today.
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About time – hopefully they won’t have quite so much money to spend on their beer-fueled rampages that have been the scourge of our county for the last 300 years. Let’s hope they crack down on village hall whist drives next…..
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Appalling. What with the biomass plant fiasco, bus route axing plans and so on, it appears that Shropshire Council’s contempt for Bishops Castle knows no bounds. I’m not a resident but I hold BC in very high regard, and therefore my contempt for Shropshire Council is at an alltime high right now.
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Having had some experience of the system, it sounds like the Club have failed to send off their return to the valuation office, which usually as a Sports Club then if you are entitled you will receive discretionary relief against the charge, resulting more often than not in a zero charge.
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Quite right too! We need that money to pump into the profligate and unhelpfull banks to pay their bonus hoovering geniuses while not forgetting the pointless foreign military jaunts that no-one actually cares about.
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