8:02am Wednesday 17th March 2010
By Mike Laycock
A CRISIS meeting about soaring business rates is being opened up to traders from across York – as an Acomb pub emerged as the latest victim of the increases.
The meeting on March 26 at Holy Trinity Church, in Micklegate, starting at 7pm to 7.30pm, was originally intended for local traders only, but organisers say anyone affected in York is now welcome to attend after it emerged surging rateable values are a city-wide problem.
The Press revealed last week that the Castle Howard Ox, in The Groves, was facing a 200 per cent rate rise.
Now Alan Williams, who runs the Sun Inn, in Wetherby Road, has come forward to tell how his rates are set to soar by more than 100 per cent. He said the property’s rateable value had been increased from £14,500 to £35,000 following a revaluation by the Valuation Office Agency.
“I had to pick my chin off the floor when I heard how much it had gone up,” said Mr Williams. “I just couldn’t believe it. I don’t know why it’s gone up so much.”
He said the figure had been reduced to £31,000 after he had challenged it, but this still meant it had more than doubled. He said the new rates related to York’s rental values in 2008, but these had fallen sharply since then because of the recession.
“An increase in line with inflation would be acceptable, but not one this big,” he said.
Mr Williams, who has been a publican for 35 years and has run the Sun Inn for nine years, said the rise was on top of other increased costs he was facing, for example for utilities and beer.
The agency has claimed that its revaluation nationwide was designed to “maintain fairness” by ensuring rateable values reflected changes in the rental market since they were last set five years ago. It has said that an increase in rateable value did not necessarily mean an increase in the final bill, as people would only pay 41p in the pound of their rateable value in future, compared with 48p now.
It said it was estimated that about 60 per cent of all properties across England and Wales would see a reduction in their rates bill this coming year. For those facing increases, the Government was introducing a £2 billion transitional relief scheme which would phase in changes in bills over five years.
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