Altrincham businesses have welcomed government plans to devolve business rate powers to local councils.
The plans, announced by Chancellor George Osborne today, would mean that Trafford Council could ease the burden on businesses in the town by cutting business rates.
Currently, business rates are collected by councils but sent to the Treasury, which then redistributes the funds so that areas with fewer businesses do not lose out.
The proposals still have to go through Parliament and would not be place until 2020, but Osborne described it as the “biggest transfer of power to local government” in recent history.
The news was received well by local businesses.
Mike Burke, owner of Embrace Bar on Stamford New Road, said: “In principle I think it’s a good idea for the local council to set it, because they’re locally responsible then. At the moment the council are saying they can’t do anything about it, whereas if it’s locally set then they’re locally accountable. It makes it closer to home.”
Ashley Woodhouse, co-owner of Fresh To Death health bar on Railway Street, claimed that putting the power to cut rates in local councils’ hands would be “a good thing”.
“A great town like Altrincham need independents and I think it’s hard for independents to take that jump to take a premises on because there’s a lot of things to take into consideration, one of the biggest being business rates,” he added.
And John Lyons, co-owner of The Ivy House on Regent Road, argued that cutting rates would reduce the impression that Altrincham had a “sales prevention officer”.
“Business rates to me are a real bugbear,” he said. “It may have been prime retail in the 60s and 70s, but Altrincham is not prime retail now.”
Sean Anstee, Conservative leader of Trafford Council, told us he “warmly welcomed” the announcement, adding: “It puts us in control of our own destiny in terms of what we want to do to support economic growth and local businesses and it’s something that Trafford has campaigned for for many years.”
But Labour warned it could start a “race to the bottom”, with councils competing to cut their rates the most.
