Decision details

The Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Growth, Strategic Planning, Housing, Economic Development, and Business Engagement on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Resources:

Approved the award of Discretionary Rate Relief for charities and similar organisations shown on the attached schedule at Appendix A to 31 March 2017; and

Rejected the applications for the award of Discretionary Rate Relief for charities and similar organisations shown on the attached schedule at Appendix B.

This report covers renewal applications for discretionary rate relief received since submission of the previous Cabinet Member Decision Notice for renewals. The recommendations are in line with the guidelines for charities and other similar organisations shown below.

Awards of discretionary relief are allowed under s47 Local Government Finance Act 1988 (as `amended by the Local Government Act 2003) and the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 to the following rate payers:

Ø  Charities where the property in question is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes;

Ø  Organisations not established or conducted for profit whose main objectives are, charitable or otherwise philanthropic, religious, concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts;

Ø  Clubs or societies not established or conducted for profit where the property is wholly or mainly used for the purposes of recreation.

Ø  Where the property is within the authorities Rural Settlement list, the rateable value of the property is less than £16,500 and the property is used for purposes that benefit the local community.

The organisations included at Appendix A fall into one of the above categories.

Under the funding arrangements for Localised Business Rates the Council’s share of income is 49%. 

The cost of awarding the proposed relief at Appendix A for the 2013/14 financial year is £704.92 and for the 2014/15 financial year is £1,069.90. Costs will continue after this date but are currently unknown.

The cost of granting the above relief will be accounted for via a reduction to the Collectable Debit and incoming receipts for Business Rates.

Alternative options to be considered include not allowing discretionary relief and allowing relief at a higher or lower level. However, to ensure consistency and equality, the recommendations are in line with the revised council guidelines and with previous decisions for similar organisations. 

None.

None, unless otherwise stated in the CMDN.