National Non-Domestic Rates (Business Rates) Discretionary Rate Relief Policy

Overview

The purpose of the Business Rates Retail Discount Scheme is to support businesses, with a rateable value of less than £51,000, that are wholly or mainly being used as shops, restaurants, cafes and drinking establishments.

For the purpose of this relief we consider shops, restaurants, cafes and drinking establishments to mean:

1. Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public:

• shops (such as: florists, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, jewellers, stationers, off licences, chemists, newsagents, hardware stores, supermarkets, etc)
• charity shops
• opticians
• post offices
• furnishing shops/ display rooms (such as: carpet shops, double glazing, garage doors)
• aar/ caravan show rooms
• second hand car lots
• markets
• petrol stations
• garden centres
• art galleries (where art is for sale/hire)

2. Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:

• hair and beauty services (such as: hair dressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops, etc)
• shoe repairs/ key cutting
• travel agents
• ticket offices e.g. for theatre
• dry cleaners
• launderettes
• PC/ TV/ domestic appliance repair
• funeral directors
• photo processing
• tool hire
• car hire

3. Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of food and/ or drink to visiting members of the public:

• restaurants
• takeaways
• sandwich shops
• coffee shops
• pubs

Eligibility

Eligibility to relief under this section will only be considered after determination of any other forms of rate relief to which the applicant may be eligible.

Relief may be granted where:

• the property has a rateable value of less than £51,000
• the property is both occupied and trading
• the award of relief complies with EU law on State Aid (less than €200k awarded over 3 years)

Applications

This relief will automatically be awarded to eligible ratepayers. However, the council will issue a state aid declaration, and this must be signed by the ratepayer and returned to Chorley Council within 14 days of receipt to avoid cancellation of the relief.

Duration

Relief may be awarded from 1 April 2019 until 31 March 2020.