Shropshire's rural businesses facing rates increase threat
Countryside firms could be under threat if a radical reform of business rates leads to large cost hikes, it has been warned.
Rural enterprises such as horse riding schools, vineyards and stud farms are facing some of the steepest rises in England when new rates come into effect in April.
The Valuation Office Agency sets the values of properties based on their rental value on the open market every five years.
But a delay has meant the Government is adjusting rates to reflect seven years of changes in the property market. The rates are calculated in part by the rentable value of a property.
All businesses with properties that have a rateable value above £12,000 must pay rates.
But pressure on rural businesses, which typically occupy more space, has led to calls for the current "bricks and mortar" valuation method to be overhauled.
Councillor Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North, said it was "grim" news, adding that the revaluation of business rates had been badly misjudged by the Government.
He said: "I can't believe that rateable values for retail premises in Ludlow are going up by 39 per cent on April 1. Even in London, the rateable values are only going up by 27 per cent.
"Fifty Ludlow retailers will see business rates increases of between 50 per cent and 150 per cent over the next five years. National retailers in big urban centres may be able to weather this storm. But Ludlow is a small town of 11,000 people and is heavily reliant on tourists.
"Four in five of our shops are run by independent businesses. I fear many of our independent shops will fold."
Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies said rural enterprises with large footprints were facing unfair increases in the amount of tax they pay.
He said: "I can see this becoming a very, very big issue. There is going to be a bit of an uprising. If we see businesses closing, it will destroy local communities. Just what are the instructions to the district value assessors?
"They have got to go on actual rental value, not some notional rental value based on space."
Shropshire Council leader Malcolm Pate has also spoken out against the latest revaluation.
He said: "If this is going to affect rural industries then we wouldn't support that."
Councillor Paul Wynn, who represents Prees, said: "In a rural community, we don't have that many businesses compared to other counties and towns which pay rates. Farms are exempt.
"But for those who do have to pay business rates, I feel it will be a bad deal for them."
The latest revaluation is drawn on figures from 2015.
