Criticism of Sunak’s budget from the right who say that the corporation tax rise will hurt industry are misguided. Other countries will also need to repay their debts so it is unlikely to have a relative negative impact – especially as it is so low at the moment. And as business people have stated, with the time lag they can factor in the change – no problem.
The town fund is blatantly unfair39 of the 45 towns to receive funds are held by tories! Jenrick should go. I was surprised that Bodmin did not qualify, and only 2 towns in the North-East? What is the fund for? Jenrick’s home town is spending some of the £25 million on doing up the gatehouse of the castle there? Not sure how this helps? Surely the money should be ring fenced for projects that stimulate growth such as improvements to access to town centres and improvements to the shopping environment, and maybe innovative new ideas for spreading the business rates burden (perhaps even a capitalist style bidding programme for shops to offer to ‘buy’ the ‘business rate’ at an auction. Prime sites will go for more, and could be for 5 or 10 years to allow for movement of the town centre. Shops could bid for what they can see their profits in certain areas being. If the larger sites do not ‘sell’ they could be broken up into smaller units. There should also be set limits on classifications of shops located in certain areas. Maybe a 70% retail area with the other 20% being hospitality and a small % of financial allowed. Hairdressers and tattoo parlours, etc. should be adjacent rather than part off. The geography of town centres needs rewriting. Room for innovation and change would need to be factored in. Cities are always changing and adapting. A better model than the current situation might allow this to occur without areas becoming deprived and run down.
Hypothesising – Weston-s-M must have a fairly fixed amount it gets from business rates. A chunk of this will be M&S which is probably not sustainable, The High Street and the covered areas are not attractive or housing shops to attract people. Boots, Smiths, Waterstones, phone shops, pound shop, Walkers and Ling, Burger King, McD’s, – ok – I admit I have not been there for 2 years (that is my point!). But then maybe Weston-s-M is forever just a kiss me quick seaside town, whilst Wells and even Clevedon attract richer people?