Stafford is broke - Any answers?

John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
The Borough and County Councils have legal obligations to provide certain services

The Borough and County Councils cannot increase the local tax by any more than a Government limit


The Borough and County Council are experiencing a sharp fall in income due to many current economic changes including a lower percentage of shops being occupied , less money from parking, and lower revenues from planning applications

Therefore the services that the Councils provides that do not fall under its remit are under threat of being cut

The books need 're-balancing'

What can we do without and what do we need to save?
 
djstaffs

djstaffs

Well-Known Forumite
We have a lovely new car park on the old riverside site which usually seems empty. How about the council waives rates and rents on the empty shop units for one year on any new business that takes up a lease? They may not get money from rates etc but at least it will bring people into town to use car park spaces, support exsisting businesses and keep them from going bust and also give new businesses a hand to become established.
 
wmrcomputers

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
djstaffs said:
We have a lovely new car park on the old riverside site which usually seems empty. How about the council waives rates and rents on the empty shop units for one year on any new business that takes up a lease? They may not get money from rates etc but at least it will bring people into town to use car park spaces, support exsisting businesses and keep them from going bust and also give new businesses a hand to become established.
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unlikely but totally realistic. certainly gets my vote.
 
djstaffs

djstaffs

Well-Known Forumite
wmrcomputers said:
djstaffs said:
We have a lovely new car park on the old riverside site which usually seems empty. How about the council waives rates and rents on the empty shop units for one year on any new business that takes up a lease? They may not get money from rates etc but at least it will bring people into town to use car park spaces, support exsisting businesses and keep them from going bust and also give new businesses a hand to become established.
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unlikely but totally realistic. certainly gets my vote.
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Ha maybe i should run for Kidneys job then... :lol:
 
djstaffs

djstaffs

Well-Known Forumite
interesting except may just force all the traffic to cut through stafford to get from one junction to another without paying the toll.


Oh hang on a mo, thats a brilliant idea...there will be such jams people will stop off in stafford just to get out their cars and start spending money here. I like it
 
basil

basil

don't mention the blinds
How about if all the firms that sub-contract to local authorities are managed and thereby unable to rip-off ......
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Charge half rates on empty shops, put the people keeping them empty out of pocket. Then they'll drop the rent, to get anybody to move in and so take the rates on, so more businesses can open up and get shafted by the rates. Oh.

Not long back from Maidenhead, where half the town is closed down. Not sure how true it is, but according to our trainer the council raised the rates to make up for the shortfall in rates from the closing businesses. Result - lots more closed down.
 
M

MarkHeenan

Well-Known Forumite
djstaffs said:
We have a lovely new car park on the old riverside site which usually seems empty. How about the council waives rates and rents on the empty shop units for one year on any new business that takes up a lease? They may not get money from rates etc but at least it will bring people into town to use car park spaces, support existing businesses and keep them from going bust and also give new businesses a hand to become established.
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We don't receive any income directly from business rates. Strange but true. What happens is we collect the money, hand it to the Government, and then a section (and certainly only a fraction of rates collected) is redistributed back to councils that have performed well according to a particular indicator related to business growth.

However, the Borough Council has passed a measure to give temporary rate relief to businesses that would otherwise struggle to stay afloat. 75% of the cost of not receiving this money is borne by the Government, with the Borough Council footing the remaining 25%. We have earmarked £50,000 from our budget to cover this, meaning the overall rate relief available totals £200,000.

As for the shop rents, I think it's only the market where the Borough Council is the landlord. Certainly the vast majority of if not all shops on the high street are privately owned, although I'm unsure what the County Council's ownership may be.
 
djstaffs

djstaffs

Well-Known Forumite
MarkHeenan, thank you very much for that but my solution was so so simple and would no doubt of worked had you not sought to muddy things with the facts! :D:
 
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