Declining shopping district could be helped by business rate assessment

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

A business rate review has been suggested by a group of traders to halt the decline of a shopping district.

By Ashley Brunskill

Business rates should be reviewed in one shopping district in order to help prevent its decline, according to a local organisation.

Speaking to the Andover Advertiser, a new traders association in Woolston has called for the neighbourhood to be tidied, pavements fixed and business rates reviewed.

It stated that since the Thornycroft shipyard closed in 2004 business in the area has declined.

Commenting on the suggestion for a business rates review, Royston Smith, cabinet member for economic development at Southampton City Council, said the government had been successfully lobbied to revalue them.

"The council is keen to support initiatives that are generated by the local business community, particularly when they demonstrate not just their ingenuity and flair but their energy and enthusiasm," he told the newspaper.

Another organisation which wants business rates to be reassessed in light of the financial downturn is the Mid-Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, the Halifax Evening Courier reported.

Source: ask-re The Property People LLP