Clause 16
Business Rate Supplements Bill
9:00 am
Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
Welcome to the Chair, Mrs. Dean.
I will speak briefly to the amendments proposed by the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst, but also to amendment 17, which stands in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull. First, on amendment 30 and the consequent amendments, an automatic offset—which I believe is the underlying principle—is problematic. In many areas BIDs and business rate supplements will be doing entirely different things. With reference to our previous debate, had there been a ballot in both cases, it would have been easier to reconcile the two, because that would have demonstrated that the business community had opted for both. However, an automatic offset is potentially problematic.
The new clause, to which the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich spoke, is attractive and absolutely right. During evidence sessions, he consistently drew attention to the lack of a mechanism to enable a more formal role for property owners, as opposed to tenants, to participate in BIDs and a BRS. I am therefore attracted to his proposals. As he said, this is an exploratory process and he does not intend to press them to a vote. We are all the better for his having done that and I congratulate him on raising those points.
Amendment 17 takes a different approach to that proposed by the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst in his amendment, in that it seeks to give flexibility to local authorities. Our colleagues at the Local Government Association may not be happy with some of my remarks about ballots, but perhaps they will be slightly happier with these ones. Under amendment 17, a local authority that wished to put in place a BRS across its entire area, where there might be one or two BIDs, could take a different approach to BIDs within that area, depending on local circumstances—for example, how advanced the BID was or how close it was to concluding. Of course, that would be done in consultation with the business community in the area, because there might be specific reasons why an offset would be preferable in that area. In conclusion, amendment 17 would give flexibility to a local authority, in consultation with its local business community, to achieve a local solution.