Cefin Campbell MS raises the issue of absurd business rates in Aberystwyth at the Senedd

Watch Cefin Campbell MS raises the issue of absurd business rates in Aberystwyth at the Senedd - Tindle News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Kevin Campbell. Thank you very much, Llywydd. How is the Welsh

00:03Government supporting town centre businesses in mid and west Wales?

00:09We have made available £125 million of transforming towns funding to secure the

00:14economic and social resilience of town centres, enabling job creation, developing green

00:19infrastructure, improving community facilities and access to services, and supporting local

00:24businesses. Thank you very much for that response. As

00:29we all know, these circumstances facing many of our smaller companies are very numerous.

00:38The cost of energy continues to be high, inflation pressures and so on, and I am sure

00:44we would all agree that they need all the support that we can provide. I am concerned that many

00:49town centre businesses in mid and west Wales are paying a very high price in business rates.

00:56At the end of last year, I and Elin Jones wrote to the Valuation Office Agency to express concerns

01:02on the business rates charged for businesses in Aberystwyth specifically.

01:08Alun Davies AM, Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government.

01:08Aberystwyth is concerned, Cabinet Secretary, that the business rates being charged on some

01:13commercial properties there are higher than in the centre of Cardiff. In some cases, the zone

01:20prices per square metre are almost three times higher on Aberystwyth's Great Darcot Street than

01:28on Swansea's Kingsway. Do you agree with me that this seems, frankly, absurd? Further, locally

01:36owned businesses in Aberystwyth town centre are paying up to 10 times as much in business rates

01:41than out-of-town train stores. So, my question is simple. What do you propose to do to address

01:49this imbalance?

01:50Julie James AM, Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government.

01:52When it comes to setting rateable values of properties, they are independent of the Welsh

01:58Government and set independently by the Valuation Office Agency. But, if Kevin Campbell wouldn't

02:04mind writing to myself on this particular issue, giving those examples, then I'd be happy, of

02:09course, to take them up with the Minister for Finance's responsibility in this area to explore

02:15them in a little bit more detail.