Deadline day approaching for Spark container village

Rates, rent and profit share payments due in the next few days.

Spark April 2018

The valuation office has completed its assessment of the rateable value of the Spark container village on Piccadilly.

Figures published on their web site suggest a total valuation of £138,730.

In the normal course of events this would bring around £65,000 into the City’s coffers helping to offset the additional costs of street cleaning, refuse collection, policing etc. associated with developments of this sort.

Increases in rateable value these days bring an immediate boost for Council finances under rate retention schemes (The Council’s rate support grant has consequently been reduced to zero this year).

But will there be a boost in this case?

Valuations were apparently requested on a per container basis. This means that none of the 25 units has a rateable value of more than £12,000.

Rating list

Government regulations on rate relief for small businesses say “You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less”.

So, unless an occupier has a second business property elsewhere, then they may not pay any rates at all.

Empty properties are exempt from Business Rates for 3 months.

Some of the alcohol selling units on the site are said to be highly profitable. No doubt other traders operating nearby will question whether this is fair competition.

York Council officials are staying tight lipped about whether they anticipated this development.

The original Spark business pitch to the Council talked about a £71,000 profit each year. Part of this was to be used to repay the Council’s initial investment in new utility infrastructure. The first payment toward paying off this debt is due in a little over 6 weeks’ time, together with the Council’s share of what Spark claim is a “£1.5 million profit”

NB In August 2018 the Council refused a planning application from Spark to omit the wooden cladding for the containers which they had suggested as part of the original application.

Spark is currently closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Spark list only 4 retailers who currently operate from the containers. There are also 7 food and drink outlets

Spark still to submit planning appeal on cladding

Freedom of Information response confirms no rent or rates paid

Spark was closed yesterday

Despite receiving a decision notice which required the company to implement the original planning condition which included providing cladding on the outside of the containers on Piccadilly, Spark still haven’t started work.

The decision notice was issued on 21^st August, over 2 months ago.

Spark were publicly quoted as saying that they would “appeal” to the Secretary of State against the Councils decision. They haven’t done so yet and indeed it could be another 4 months before they have to register an appeal. Even then Planning Inspectors could take several months to determine the case. That might be close to the May 2020 end of their lease for the site.

The Council says, “It is the view of planning officers that it would be inappropriate and unreasonable for the planning authority to attempt to take planning enforcement action whilst they exercise their right to challenge the Council’s decision”.

Their position ignores the fact that the developers have been in breach of the planning conditions for over 6 months now and that they have failed to record an appeal against the August planning refusal.

With containers having been in place since September 2017, that would mean that the ugly frontage would potentially have been on public view for over 2 years.

A Freedom of Information response (ref: IGF/10492) has confirmed that Spark have not yet paid any rent or rates on their development. The rates issue is blamed on delays in the Valuation Office who have yet to respond to a valuation request issued to them in May 2018.

Developers call “foul”

It appears that the Council issued a contract to Spark which didn’t require any rent payments to be made until March 2019. It is unclear whether the council collects rent 12 months in arrears on the other properties that it rents in the City (Council house tenants pay rent fortnightly).

The FOI does confirm that building control agreement hasn’t been issued

“The original building regulation application was approved at the site, however this has subsequently been amended to incorporate roof cover which is currently being assessed. As soon as this is complete a Completion Certificate will be issued for the site”.

Perhaps not surprisingly other developers in the City are now crying “foul” and are claiming that there is no longer a level playing field.

No rates increase for small business and charities in York

Foxwood Community centre

The Council is expected next week to confirm that a freeze on business rates for small businesses and charities will continue.

In effect this means that £700,000 from central government is being injected into the local economy. The move continues the temporary discretionary rate relief grant and will help to mitigate the effect on businesses of the increased rateable values arising from the business rates revaluation exercise undertaken by Central Government. The scheme was intended to support those local businesses that faced the steepest increases in their business rates bills because of the revaluation

During the current year only 98 applied for the relief, leaving £500,000 unallocated in the current year.

The York Council now intends to allocate the relief automatically to all businesses. This will see no local business or charity with a rateable value below £200K having to pay an increase in their business rates in 2017/18.

Separately the government has confirmed which charities will qualify for Discretionary Rate Relief next year.

The list of successful applicants includes

Acomb Sports Club on Acomb Green
Foxwood Community Centre
Wilf Ward Charity Trust (Green Lane)
Chapelfields Community Association (Sanderson Court)

An application by the York and District Indoor Bowls Club is being declined because the organisation is deemed to have too high financial reserves.

Business rate valuations mostly up in Acomb

Community centre faces 50% hike in Rates

Sanderson House faces rates hike

Further detail has emerged of the new Business Rates that will be payable in Acomb and elsewhere in the City.

Generally, valuations have increased by around 10% although there are very wide variations.

This means that most shopkeepers in the area will pay more than they currently do when the valuations are introduced next year.

Examples of valuations – which can be found on the government web site by clicking here – are shown in the table below.

Business rates in Acomb

The figures quoted do not indicate the actual amount which is paid. A multiplier – which changes each year – is applied get the actual amount to be paid.

Still there are some shockers on the list not least the huge hikes in rates for the Community Centres in Chapelfields (+50%) and Foxwood (+17%). Charities do get relief on their rate payments but the changes are difficult to understand against a background where some businesses, like Ladbrokes bookmakers, will enjoy reductions of around 7%.

Elsewhere Liberal Democrat Councillor Sue Hunter has backed the idea of a new investment scheme for Front Street and called on the council “to give Acomb the support it deserves”.

A recommendation for a “wider renewal and reinvigoration scheme” was agreed by York’s Executive Member for Transport & Planning at a meeting yesterday in response to petitions presented by Lib Dem councillors in Acomb and Foxwood.

Over the summer, Cllr Sue Hunter organised a petition signed by over 800 residents calling for action to fix pavements in Front Street to help those who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters, and support the local shopping area. Meanwhile, Cllr Sheena Jackson organised a petition calling for improvements to the pavements around Foxwood Shops.

In response to the petitions, it was agreed that standard repairs will continue and that further work is carried out to appraise the possibilities for a wider renewal and reinvigoration scheme for both locations and a report prepared for the Executive Member for Economic Development and Community Engagement. (more…)

York school set to lose rate relief application

The Steiner school in Fishergate is set to have an application for a reduction in its Business Rate liability turned down by the York Council.

The school is a registered charity and a non for profit organisation with any surplus made used for development. The school has recommended fees of ￡6,500 pa per child. The school was seeking a discretionary rebate of £3203 but this is set to be turned down by Labour Councillors apparently on the grounds that it is a fee paying schools.

The York Council currently discounts around £95,000 that charities in the City would otherwise pay in Business Rates. The scale of the relief was reduced when Labour took office in York.

Most charities, and other not for profit organisations, already receive what is known as “mandatory relief” which is paid for by central government.

In York the division of the Discretionary Rate relief is as follows

Category	DRR (total) £	CYC Share £
Not-for Profit	3340	1670
Charities	119931	59966
CASC’s	21925	10962
Rural Discretionary	40605	20303
Rural Top Up	5514	2757
Total Cost	191316	95658

The complete list of organisations recommended to receive Discretionary Rate Relief over the next year can be found by clicking here.

It includes the Tang Hall, Bell Farm and Foxwood Community Centres. Several Church aided schools are also included.

2/3 of the relief is paid by central government.