Agenda item

To consider any Notices of Motion.

(a)       That the amended Notice of Motion be supported as follows:

“We call upon Flintshire County Council to reconsider reinstating 100% business rate relief to all local community organisations with properties under the rateable value of £6,000.  This is the threshold which is set by Welsh Government for small businesses to quality for full business rate relief”; and

(b)       That a report be submitted to County Council on 20^th February with details of the options to reinstate Discretionary Rate Relief. WG would also be contacted on the lack of equity within the scheme.

Having earlier declared an interest, Councillors Allport and Woolley left the room.

One Notice of Motion had been received:

Councillor Hilary McGuill:

“We call upon FCC to reconsider reinstating 100% business rate relief on scout huts for scout organisations in Flintshire who own and manage their scout headquarters”.

In speaking to her Notice of Motion, Councillor McGuill said she felt sure the Council, when approving the removal of the 20% top up of Discretionary Rate Relief to voluntary organisations two years previous, did not realise that it would affect scout groups.  She said, in comparison, some small businesses did not pay anything for rates due to their rateable value adding that the scouts was not a business.  She felt Welsh Government (WG) should provide 100% rate relief for scout groups in the same way they did for places of worship.  Details of the financial impact it would have on some of the groups were provided and whilst this was significant for those individual groups, it was not a significant pressure on the Council’s budget.

The Notice of Motion was seconded by Councillor Tudor Jones.

Councillor McGuill requested a recorded vote.

Councillor Aaron Shotton gave notice of an amendment which was handed out to Members which was:

“We call upon Flintshire County Council to reconsider reinstating 100% business rate relief to all local community organisations with properties under the rateable value of £6,000.  This is the threshold which is set by Welsh Government for small businesses to qualify for full business rate relief”.

On speaking to his amendment, Councillor Shotton said the decision taken by the Council to remove the 20% discretionary rate relief two years ago was supported across the chamber.  However, he agreed with Councillor McGuill that national schemes should be funded wholly by WG.  To address that issue he proposed the amendment and said there was an anomaly relating to voluntary groups with a rateable value below £6,000 as they were not profit making and should not pay the 20% top up.  This was an opportunity for the Council to reinstate their decision.  On reading out his amendment, he said it provided a commitment to address the original Notice of Motion and to also help other community groups in the county.  He suggested that a report be brought back to County Council on 20^th February 2018 with details of a workable costed scheme.

The Chief Officer (Governance) asked if Councillor McGuill accepted the amendment to the Notice of Motion.  She expressed a concern that the amendment may not cover all scout groups as some may be over the £6,000 rateable value.  The Revenues Manager said he thought most, if not all, of the 13 scout groups should qualify for the top up.  Councillors McGuill and Richard Jones then asked if the 20% could be reinstated immediately to those that would quality under the amendment.  Following a discussion, Councillor McGuill requested a 10 minute adjournment so that legal advice could be sought on retrospectively reinstating Discretionary Rate Relief to the start of 2017/18 and also details of the number of groups affected in total.

Adjournment – 2.53 p.m – 3.03 p.m.

The Chief Executive explained that the guidance on whether the 20% could be reinstated retrospectively was not clear.  On the number of groups affected, the details would be provided at the meeting in February.

On that basis Councillor McGuill accepted the amendment put forward by Councillor Aaron Shotton and as the seconder, Councillor Tudor Jones also accepted the amendment.  The amendment then became the substantive motion.

A report would be submitted to the meeting on 20^th February with details of the options to reinstate Discretionary Rate Relief.  WG would also be contacted on the lack of equity within the scheme.

            Councillor Attridge moved a closure motion as he felt the matter had been sufficiently discussed which was supported by the Chair. 

In earlier requesting a recorded vote, the requisite 10 Members stood in support.  The following Councillors voted for the Notice of Motion:

Bernie Attridge, Glyn  Banks, Haydn Bateman, Marion Bateman, Sean Bibby Chris Bithell, Sian Braun, Helen Brown, Derek Butler, Clive Carver, Geoff Collett, Paul Cunningham, Jean Davies, Rob Davies, Ron Davies, Adele Davies-Cooke, Ian Dunbar, Andy Dunbobbin, Mared Eastwood, Carol Ellis, David Evans, Veronica Gay, George Hardcastle, David Healey, Gladys Healey, Patrick Heesom, Cindy Hinds, Kevin Hughes, Ray Hughes, Dennis Hutchinson, Paul Johnson, Rita Johnson, Christine Jones, Richard Jones, Tudor Jones, Colin Legg, Brian Lloyd, Richard Lloyd, Mike Lowe, Dave Mackie, Hilary McGuill, Mike Peers, Michelle Perfect, Vicky Perfect, Neville Phillips, Mike Reece, Ian Roberts, Tony Sharps, Aaron Shotton, Paul Shotton, Ralph Small, Ian Smith, Carolyn Thomas, Owen Thomas, Martin White, Andy Williams, David Williams, David Wisinger and Arnold Woolley.

Councillor Janet Axworthy abstained against the Notice of Motion.  No Councillors voted against.

Councillor Carver clarified that the original decision on removing Discretionary Rate Relief was a Cabinet decision and not a County Council one.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the amended Notice of Motion be supported as follows:

“We call upon Flintshire County Council to reconsider reinstating 100% business rate relief to all local community organisations with properties under the rateable value of £6,000.  This is the threshold which is set by Welsh Government for small businesses to quality for full business rate relief”; and

(b)       That a report be submitted to County Council on 20^th February with details of the options to reinstate Discretionary Rate Relief. WG would also be contacted on the lack of equity within the scheme.