Business rates cheer for Telford & Wrekin Council
Council chiefs in Telford have hailed plans announced by the Chancellor to allow local authorities to keep all cash raised through business rates.
Councillor Kuldip Sahota, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, said the policy announced by George Osborne at the Conservative party conference was a "key plank" of the authority's devolution proposal.
He said it was "positive the Chancellor has listened to us". But council chiefs have been unable put a figure on the extra amount the authority could get and have said they need to find out more about the finer details of the proposal.
It comes as officials at Shropshire Council claimed they could be in line for an extra £40 million a year if Mr Osborne goes ahead with the plans. Mr Osborne said that he wanted councils to retain £26 billion in revenue generated from business rates. Currently councils retain about half, with the rest going to central government.
Councillor Sahota said: "We have been fighting for this to happen for a long time and it is positive the Chancellor has listened to us. However, as ever with these things, the devil will be in the detail.
"Retention of 100 per cent of business rates was a key plank of the devolution proposal that we submitted to central government last month. We are pleased that this ambition has been realised so quickly and the Chancellor's announcement also gives us the freedom to set the rates locally.
"However, there are too many unknowns at this stage. We will have to wait until we know more of the detail of the Chancellor's announcement to be certain that this is a positive thing."
