[BWB]

Some shops within eagles meadow have had their rates reduced. These reductions have come about because through an appeal the valuation office have decided that the price per square meter of the shop is too high, therefore their Rateable Value was too high.

As far as I can see these are the only reasons reductions in eagles meadow have taken place (and its not for every shop,only ones that have had an appeal concluded and agreed). If there has been any other form of rates reduction the council have agreed it between them and eagles meadow. On the one hand you want to keep the big shops happy as they no doubt draw the main bulk of shoppers to an area (for example, if a Marks and Spencer comes on to a street, people often see their rates increase as M&S bring more shoppers therefore more footfall and therefore shops often get more passing trade and therefore are more desirable and easily let out). The point here though, is that all the big shops are in one part of town, and therefore take the footfall and passing trade away from the other end of town. The local retailers of Wrexham need help with their rates too, and it shouldn’t just be the big shopping centres and big name shops that get the benefits.

What I did also notice is that % drops for loss of trade are only given to shopping centres when only a few shops have been let and the rest are empty. This does not apply to high streets where lots of shops have become vacant.

However, this is on the valuation office : “During the life of the Rating List redevelopment may result in changes to the shopping patterns and hence rental values”.

I would say this applies to the shops of Regent St and other surrounding areas, so I would have thought the people of regent st and surrounding arrears have good reason to appeal their rates.

I also note that the shops in regent st had a 25% reduction in rates from 2008-2010 due to the affect of eagles meadow opening. % reductions such as these are re-assessed at the start of a new rating list (2010 in this case) and was not continued. Therefore the local valuation office did not think that eagles meadow was still affecting trade around Regent St and other streets passed 2010.

[BWB]

@Jonesy 1181 wrote:

1.)Have a look at business rates. Reduced rates for new shops/businesses – maybe who commit to opening for a least 12/24 months. Where shops are council owned then do same with rents. Try and have some influence on private landlords to lower commercial rents. Deal with landlords who purposely leave shops empty (I believe the council has compulsory purchase rights in some circumstances)

I am not sure how much control the council have over being able to reduce rates for ratepayers. A % reduction due to lots of empty shops being in the surrounding area can be given, but this has to come from the local valuation office -or by someone appealing their rates due to this change (which can take up to 2 years!). In much the same way % reductions can be given for the effect of roadworks on a property.

The loss of trade of the street will be primarily due to lack of footfall as people are driven to the other end of town. I agree that the business rates should be looked at, along side rent its one of the biggest expenses for many companies, but how this can be done I am not 100% sure of. I could certainly look into it if people were interested.

Unfortunately current rates are based on the value of properties in 2008 and most will be incorrect by now. The next time they will be looked in full is probably next year, so that information can be collated and rates can be set for the new rating list in 2015. It is ludicrous that rates for 2015 are going to be set on properties values in 2013, likewise its ludicrous that rates for 2010 were based on 2008 values but that’s the way the system works I’m afraid!

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