Councils given powers to mind their own businesses

9 Jul 09
Local authorities have been given the power to raise additional funds from businesses to pay for transport and infrastructure projects.
09 July 2009

Local authorities have been given the power to raise additional funds from businesses to pay for transport and infrastructure projects.

The Business Rate Supplements Act, which became law on July 3, allows county councils, unitary district councils and the Greater London Authority to impose an additional levy on commercial premises worth more than £50,000.

The maximum charge will be 2p for every £1 of rateable value, and businesses will be able to vote on any project where more than a third of the funding comes from the supplement.

The CBI industry lobby opposed the move, arguing that businesses should be able to vote down any BRS project if they judged it would not be an effective use of their money.

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