Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Council to push for £4.1million business rates relief package

Douglas Lumsden
Douglas Lumsden

The new city council finance convener has tabled a £4.1million business rates relief package.

Douglas Lumsden, the Conservative group leader at the Town House, said “swift action” was required on the crisis.

Concern has been growing for months over a perceived lack of action from the local authority to help tackle rising rates.

The Scottish Government belatedly responded to criticism in February by capping rates increases at 12.5% in the hard-pressed hospitality and office sectors after months of growing unrest.

The rises in Rateable Value (RV), with some firms facing hikes of up to 250%, have proved particularly contentious in the north-east, because they are based on 2015 property values before the full effects of the oil downturn were felt.

The previous administration came forward with a £3million relief package -but insisted it would not be implemented unless Holyrood matched that sum.

The opposition SNP group pledged a £4million scheme if they won control of the Town House in the recent council election.

Douglas Lumsden has argued “swift action” was required to help struggling firms and confirmed yesterday £4.1million would now be put in place.

Under the plan, all businesses will now be capped at 12.5%.

Mr Lumsden, who is also Conservative group leader, said: “We said that business rates relief was a red line issue for us in negotiations with our coalition partners.

“We also made a clear commitment, prior to the election, that we would take swift action to help companies in Aberdeen affected by punitive rates rises.

“While we are still limited in what we can do due to SNP government cuts to our budget, we will provide more than £4million to help those sectors that did not benefit from the national relief scheme.”

SNP group leader Stephen Flynn said: “This looks like something we in the SNP would support and have indeed called for in recent months.

“It’s farcical this administration, during the last council term, failed to put any relief in place since February and it’s now only as we approach the start of June that businesses are being given some certainty.”

Last night, businessman Graham Moggford, who owns Bridges Nurseries in Bridge of Don and Westhill, cautiously welcomed the plan.

He said: “While I still think we are getting a raw deal, any help is very welcome.”

Jenny Laing leader of Aberdeen City Council said: “It is disappointing that the Scottish Government has failed to help businesses in Aberdeen despite Aberdeen City Council being the lowest funded council in Scotland.

“As leader of Aberdeen City Council I will always put Aberdeen first and thanks to the way in which we have managed the finances over the last 5 years we are in a position to help businesses this year.”