Agenda item

The Executive was reminded that the Council collected £35m in Business Rates per year, of which only a small proportion was retained by the Council.

Members considered the opportunity to participate in a Business Rates Pilot with the other Surrey Authorities. The pilot would enable 100% of growth in business ratesto be retained within Surrey. In exchange, the Government would effectively not give any Rate Support Grant or Rural Services Grants; these would have to come out of the business rates retained.  Work undertaken had indicated that Surrey as an area could benefit significantly by becoming a pilot. The group of authorities in the pilot would be required to propose arrangements for splitting the additional monies and it had been suggested that there should be a minimum gain of at least £500k for each authority.

The Leader reported that the pilot had been discussed at Surrey Leaders Group and that participating in the pilot was currently supported by a majority of authorities. It was, however, recognised that all authorities would need to agree to participate in the pilot for the submission to be made.

RESOLVED to

(i)          note the implications of joining a Surrey Business Rates Pilot for 2018/19; and

(ii)        delegate to the Executive Head of Finance, in consultation with the Leader and Chief Executive, the final terms of the pilot and the submission of the application.