The massive increase in income from business rates in Warwickshire has brought local councils £4million in extra government grants.
And this is money which should be spent on enhancing business areas, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
Chairman of the FSB’s Warwickshire and Coventry region, John Bates, said: “The Minister of State for Local Government, John
Healey MP, has announced extra grants through the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive (LABGI) grants scheme.
“The scheme rewards local authorities where the income from business rates has increased significantly during the year by giving one-off grants to the council concerned.
“According to the government, the scheme should give all local authorities an incentive to maximise local economic growth, and that is exactly what they should be doing.
“We believe that money should be spent on schemes which directly benefit businesses and help further improve the business environment in the hope that similar grants can be generated in future years.
“We are particularly keen to support projects which help reduce the levels of crime against businesses and hope that local councils will be willing to work with us to get maximum benefit for the local business community from these grants.”
Business growth is measured in terms of the increase in a local authority’s rateable value during a calendar year.
Councils who will receive money under the scheme include:
Stratford District Council
08: £378,311, 07: £144,804, 06: £50,114.
Warwick District Council
08: £1,168,215, 07: £945,869, 06: £74,363.
Warwickshire County Council
08: £1,419,069, 07: £1,808,034, 06: £67,332.
The full article contains 276 words and appears in Leamington Courier newspaper.
