Business rates revamp called for

A decision by the Chancellor to cap the increase of business rates at 2 per cent will provide little comfort to independents, said the boss of a North West optical chain.

Conlons Opticians managing director John Welsby, who reported earlier in the month how soaring business rates were punishing the high street (News 06.12.13), said despite them being capped at 2 per cent instead of a possible 3.2 per cent rise, a planned 2015 revaluation had been delayed until 2017.

Welsby added: ‘The only beneficiaries from this delay are big retailers while small ones in the north of England are suffering. Research suggests Britain’s four biggest supermarkets would save £1.3bn as a result of the two-year delay to a revaluation, while independent retailers’ rents are kept artificially high.