Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Enterprise, Community and Resources, which detailed renewal requests for discretionary business rate relief for organisations that continued to satisfy the appropriate criteria.

The Board was advised that the Council had previously granted discretionary business rate relief to a number of organisations which were Registered Charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC). It was noted that the organisations currently received a mandatory 80% business rate relief and the Council funded the full cost of such relief as part of the 100% Business Rates Retention Pilot Scheme. Not for profit organisations were not entitled to mandatory rate relief and therefore, the full cost of any discretionary rate relief granted was funded by the Council.

Details of the organisations currently in receipt of discretionary rate relief and the costs were listed in the appendix attached to the report. The Board noted that regulations required that twelve months’ notice of any changes to provision must be given and therefore organisations must be so notified by 31 March 2018.

RESOLVED: That

1)    Discretionary Business Rate Relief of 15% be granted for those registered charities and CASC organisations currently in receipt of such relief, for the period of three years commencing 1 April 2019; and

2)    Discretionary Business Rate Relief of 90% be granted for the not-for-profit organisations currently in receipt of such relief (with lower amounts as indicated in the Appendix attached to the report), for the period of three years commencing 1 April 2019.