Scots fight for rate relief after Welsh campaign success
Scottish licensees are being urged to fight for rate relief after Welsh publicans won their campaign to help rural pubs.
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) is lobbying the Scottish Executive to introduce mandatory rate relief for rural pubs along the same lines as that in England and Wales.
It also wants to see a complete review of the rating system which it believes is outdated and in need of "an overhaul".
Although Scotland does have a form of discretionary rate relief, paid for by other ratepayers, licensees believe the £12,000 threshold is too low and many pubs are missing out.
Colin Wilkinson from the SLTA said: "We have been pushing for a mandatory rate relief scheme to be run along the same lines as that in England and Wales, although rateable values are very different in Scotland. It's definitely something we need to see brought in up here."
Many pubs in rural parts of Scotland are struggling to survive. For them the introduction of a mandatory rate relief scheme could mean the difference between being forced to close and continuing to trade.
Trade association Licensed Victuallers (Wales) was celebrating last month after the Welsh Assembly granted mandatory rate relief to rural pubs and the SLTA now hopes the Scottish Executive will follow its example.
After its victory, Licensed Victuallers (Wales) is now pushing the Valuation Office to completely review the rating system - and the SLTA agrees an overhaul of the Scottish system is long overdue.
"We want to see a full review of the rating system in Scotland," said Mr Wilkinson. As in England and Wales, Scottish pubs' rateable values are calculated on their turnover instead of trading area as other businesses are.
"It seems strange that one type of business is calculated differently from another and we'd like the whole system to be given an overhaul," Mr Wilkinson said.
In England, mandatory rate relief applies to rural pubs in single-pub villages with a rateable value of less than £9,000.
Mandatory rate relief in Wales applies to pubs with a rateable value of less than £9,000, whether or not they are the only pub in a village.
Related articles:
Trade group to campaign for review of business rates for pubs (16 May 2002)
Rate relief win for Wales (30 April 2002)
