Agenda and minutes

Agreed as an accurate record.

[The Valuation Office Agency witnesses clarified a couple of points detailed in the Minutes.

Appeals received by 31 March 2015 did not have a backdating limit; those received after this date would be limited to 1 April 2015. 

The Billing Authority did not have the power to alter the local list based on information they possessed. The VOA had the power and any alterations made before 1 April 2016 would not have a backdating limit; alterations made after this date would be limited to 1 April 2015.]

To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in private and that items marked Part II will be considered in private.

It was agreed that all items of business would be considered in public, but that the evidence provided by the Borough Solicitor on Item 5 - Major Review - Rates Retention and the Rating of Heathrow Airport be considered in private.

For this meeting, Members were provided with a draft scoping report which provided details of the aims and objectives of the review.

Helen Zammit-Wilson from the Valuation Office Agency, together with Mariam Razak, attended the meeting to assist Members in their review.

The following areas were explored with the witnesses:-

The Committee was informed that the present rating system had been created under the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The next revaluation for business rates would take effect from 1 April 2017. Rateable values would be updated by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) using market rental values at 1 April 2015.

The rateable value represented the open market annual rental value of a property at a set point of time. This would mean the rent the property would be let for on the valuation date (1 April 2015 for the 2017 revaluation), if it was being offered on the open market.

Reference was made to properties where rents did not exist and where the contractor's basis of valuation was used. This was based on the cost of building a property rather than rent the actual property would attract.

There was a statutory decapitalisation rate which had a direct impact on the rateable value, and therefore on the rates bill.

Heathrow's cumulo assessment was around £243m and consisted of everything which had not been identified in the individual assessments.

The VOA allocated one officer to Heathrow who once a month inspected the whole site with another more senior officer overseeing this work. Members noted that this equated to just 12 days per annum. The VOA representative reported that this was a sufficient resource to enable a thorough monitoring of Heathrow.

Members were informed that the VOA looked at what was under the paramount control of Heathrow Airport, together with the terms and conditions of agreements when carrying out their assessments, including what was in the cumulo.

The VOA was formally a part of the HMRC, and was governed by the terms of the Commissioners for Revenues and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA). Therefore, there was no legislative gateway for officers to provide any information on the business rates for Heathrow Airport. A comparison was made to the Inland Revenue not being able to release financial confidential information on tax paying individuals.

Reference was made to the changes proposed under the Government’s Enterprise Bill which may provide a gateway for Billing Authorities to obtain more detailed information on Bill Payers, such as Heathrow Airport.

In response to a question regarding how did the Valuation Office Agency know that Heathrow had included everything in the cumulo, Members were informed that the officer assigned to the airport looked through the details of what was under the paramount control of the airport which defined what went into the cumulo.

Reference was made to large shopping retailers which were included in the cumulo but that there had been no increase in the business rates paid by Heathrow. It was explained that inclusion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Noted.

Noted.

The Committee noted that a meeting would take place in December if required.

This item was discussed as a Part II item without the press or public present as the information under discussion contained confidential or exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government [Access to Information] Act 1985 i.e. information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings. [paragraph 5 of the schedule to the Act].

The Committee was provided with a briefing by the Council's Borough Solicitor on the options available to the Council in relation to obtaining greater transparency regarding Business Rates at Heathrow Airport. 

RESOLVED -

(1)That the information provided by the Borough Solicitor be noted.