Town hall chiefs urged to set up 'hardship' scheme to help with business rates
Councillor argues scheme is needed to help offset challenges businesses face
Hello and welcome to The Calderdale Lead!
I can’t quite believe that it is Sunday again. February is rattling along at what seems like a far faster pace than January did. And it’s still raining!
In today’s edition we have a story from my LDR colleague John Greenwood about senior councillors in Calderdale being urged to set up a business rate hardship fund to help out firms under pressure from the various increases they’ve faced over the last few months.
Plus, we’ve got a couple of nuggets in the usual Calderdale Digest.
So, grab a brew and let’s get on with the news…
Calderdale Digest
⚽Halifax Town boss Adam Lakeland was left to rue what he described as ‘six or seven minutes of madness’ as his side threw away a commanding 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Aldershot.
Will Harris had got the Shaymen into a comfortable position with goals either side of the break before the mini-meltdown saw them concede three goals between the 60th and 65th minute to fall behind.
And Lakeland said: "Up to 2-0 I thought it was a really good, disciplined, dangerous performance, but six, seven minutes of madness and we've ended up losing the game.
“Even when we went 3-2 down, I felt we settled again, we started playing again and we had two massive chances with Will Smith and Kieron Morris.
“We’ve got to score them. We should have won that game but we haven’t and fair play to them for capitalising on our really poor five, six minute spell.”
The defeat leaves Halifax in seventh place in the National League.
🏟️ Campaigners against council plans to dispose of Calderdale’s major sports stadium have warned the authority they intend to seek a Judicial Review of the decision.
Following Calderdale Council Cabinet budget proposals two years ago, a decision was taken by the senior councillors to dispose of Halifax’s Shay Stadium, with a potential sale to Huddersfield Giants rugby club owner Ken Davy the likeliest possibility.
The campaigners are calling on the council to halt the disposal process, indicating they will seek permission from the courts for a Judicial Review of the decision if this and other requests are not met.
The full council later approved the proposal, which Cabinet says is necessary to save money and help it balance the books in cash-strapped times, but it is opposed by some, including some FC Halifax Town supporters.
The Shay is home to both of Halifax’s professional sports teams, football’s Town and rugby league’s Halifax Panthers.
If a sale to Mr Davy is successful, all three clubs will share the ground – Mr Davy wants to use The Shay as a home for Panthers until he can identify land and build a purpose-built stadium for his team in Kirklees.
Opponents of the sale are worried what would happen if Mr Davy decided to sell further down the line.
Now community group Friends of The Shay have sent a Pre-Action Protocol letter to the council’s Monitoring Officer calling for disposal of the stadium to be halted.
The letter sets out their reasons for the challenge, and nine proposed grounds for the challenge, including over consultation.
The group has asked the council to respond within 14 days and, relating to a request for a copy of a report, within seven days.
Calderdale Council business rate hardship fund would help firms to survive
By John Greenwood
Senior Calderdale councillors are being urged to look into setting up a business rate hardship fund to help those which might be struggling.
It might cost Calderedale Council around £105,000 a year as a rough ballpark figure but these would be outweighed by enabling businesses to survive and then ultimately thrive, says Cllr Joe Thompson.
Awards would only be made in “exceptional circumstances.”
Cllr Thompson successfully added a recommendation that the council’s Cabinet look into the possibility as part of its budget planning for the years ahead to those forwarded to them by scrutiny councillors.
He said Calderdale’s three-year business survival rates are high and councillors want Calderdale to continue to be a great place to do business.
However, there are challenges for businesses, including National Insurance and minimum wage increases, and changes to bus services and the impact of hopefully ultimately beneficial improvements schemes while work is ongoing.
Calderdale also has the lowest net increase in business in West Yorkshire, he said.
Cllr Thompson said Business Rates Hardship Relief is a discretionary, temporary, reduction or cancellation of Business Rates, granted in exceptional circumstances by local authorities.
Some of the other West Yorkshire councils have such as scheme, requested information from them, and, using a scaled down figure for cost as is spent by Leeds, estimated setting up one in Calderdale would cost around £105,000 a year, plus some additions if extra council staff were needed to administrate it.
He asked the councils how the relief was distributed to businesses, how businesses could apply and what evidence they would need to provide, the rough annual cost to the council, the average amount claimed by businesses, positive and negative impacts, if the system had been abused and, ultimately, whether or not businesses stayed open.
He also looked at councils more widely, spoke with many local businesses and the Halifax BID (Business Improvement District) team.
He said: “As someone who spent several years working in town centre businesses across Calderdale, I know how vital they are to keeping our town centres thriving, and also how fine the line between success and failure can be.
“We often see a lot of rhetoric around supporting businesses, but I am always looking for what we can practically do, so rhetoric can be replaced by action.
“I researched what other areas were doing, and found that introducing some kind of discretionary business rates relief happens in many other areas.”
Cllr Thompson said he reached out to other councils directly for information about the schemes.
“I always want to champion our local businesses, and if this recommendation were to be implemented and help even one business, I would consider it a success,” he said.
That’s it for this edition, thanks for reading!
I’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday with another edition but don’t forget you can get in touch via calderdale@thelead.uk with any story tips, comments or just to say hello.
Until next time, have a great week!
Andrew