Government gives full relief to Wrexham Council in public toilets

Stand-alone public toilet buildings in Wales will be exempt from paying non-domestic rates from 1 April 2020, the Finance Minister Rebecca Evans has announced.

The move follows and announcement at the Budget 2018, where the UK Government Chancellor announced a mandatory business rate relief for public lavatories, explained by UK Government as a policy that will “…decrease the running costs of these facilities and help to make them more affordable to keep open.

The relief will apply to properties that consist wholly or mainly of public lavatories in England and Wales. It will ensure that eligible public lavatories whether publicly or privately owned, free to use or those that charge for entry, will pay no business rates.”

Some brief research by Wrexham.com has calculated a possible saving of just over £4,000 due to the move in Wrexham county, with the most benefit being seen by Wrexham Council.

Bizarrely the public convenience at Eagles Meadow has a rateable value of just £1, often done as a nominal figure as a zero would mean it is off the rating list.

Although with the 100% relief it makes no difference in the future, it is unclear why those in the town has a rateable value of around £1000 a more modern development has escaped such rates.

Chirk is down as a public convenience and car park, so it is unclear if the relief will be give the whole hereditament or will be apportioned. The public toilet on Henblas Street, has a rateable value of £1,100.

The relief is only for properties that are just or mainly made up of public toilets, so toilets that are accessible in other buildings with a single rating listing like hotels, libraries or restaurants won’t come under this. It is possible that some could look at splitting those off to individual hereditament though.

Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans AM said of the move: “I am pleased to announce that from next year we will be reducing rates on public toilet buildings to zero in an attempt to keep these important local services open.

“We know the importance of being able to access a public toilet when out and about, and the impact that not being able to do so can have on people’s health, dignity and quality of life. These facilities are valued by local residents and visitors alike.”

The announcement forms part of the UK government’s precisely named Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill.

Such ‘sticking plaster’ reliefs are fairly common with UK Government, with newspapers getting £1.5k off their bills per property ‘as a temporary measure to support local newspapers adapt to technological changes within the industry’, with that being extended for another year into 2019-20.

A move away from such ad-hoc style reliefs is possible with a Treasury Select Committee conducting an inquiry into Business Rates.