Released On 19th May 2016

Business Rates Revolution

At Yeovil Golf Club on 29th April, Paul Stevens of specialist consultant surveyors Lambert Smith Hampson gave an expert but extremely user-friendly briefing to Chamber members.  Despite some wall-to-wall promotion for this event, the turnout was surprisingly low for a subject that is of concern to virtually every Chamber member.  The upcoming proposed devolvement of business rates revenue, and the October 2017 property revaluation, made the timing of this event perfect.  The attendees comprised a good mix of local authority (SSDC), property owners and Chamber members with their own premises, and the talk developed into a forum which allowed Paul to describe the legislation, the local authority to confirm how the legislation applied locally, and for members to freely ask questions.  Paul clearly knew his subject, taking every question in his stride, and the subject was kept within easy reach of everyone in the room.  Despite the low turnout, Paul may come back for a follow-up event, in good time for the October 2017 revaluation, and when more detail has been released by Government regarding the devolvement of rates revenue.