Call for rates-free zones to save city-centre firms

Making Union Street a “ratesfree zone” could be the only way to save the Aberdeen’s dying city centre.

The plight of Granite Mile salon The Collective has sparked calls for crossparty talks on the city’s “punishing” business rates regime.

The hair and beauty business weathered the pandemic but was forced to abandon the premises when a jaw-dropping rates bill arrived. The shop’s closure followed other firms fleeing the street in the last few weeks.

Now local Scottish Conservatives are calling for radical action to spare more traders going to the wall.

Leader of the council’s Tory group Ryan Houghton and North East MSP Douglas Lumsden say

Holyrood ministers need to declare hard-hit areas like Union Street “rates-free zones”.

Mr Houghton said: “The SNP-Green government’s business rates regime has had a crippling effect on Aberdeen businesses and is punishing the north-east disproportionately.

“We are calling for the Scottish Government to make our high streets rates-free zones, which would immediately benefit areas such as Union Street.

“The business rates system doesn’t work for Aberdeen and must be changed immediately.”

Non-domestic rates are a tax on commercial properties to help pay for council services.

They are especially controversial in the northeast, with valuations still based on 2017 calculations failing to take into account the continuing damage of the oil downturn.

The Collective owner Julie Hulcup told us she suspects hers isn’t the only business which will buckle under the new bills.

Meanwhile, Mr Lumsden backed calls for change just days ago – supporting a new bill recognising the hardship Covid inflicted on firms. The move will update business rate appeals in response to changing circumstances due to the pandemic.

Mr Lumsden added: “The rates system we have at present is killing our high streets in Aberdeen and yet again we are seeing a Central Belt bias.

“Businesses across Scotland should be treated equally and fairly by the SNP-Green government and in Aberdeen they are not.”

His comments come just days after Boots, which recently shut its Union Street outlet, blasted the “outmoded” system.

The pharmacy chain made the comments in evidence submitted to Holyrood’s economy and fair work committee, which is holding an inquiry into town centres and retail.

Boots said: “It remains the case that the business rates system is simply no longer fit for purpose, with high-street retailers disproportionately impacted by this outdated and outmoded system of property-based taxation.”

In March, the Bank of Scotland confirmed plans to leave the Granite Mile.

It was quickly followed by the exit of lingerie shop Bravissimo and the Nail Co salon. The quickfire closures come after John Lewis and Debenhams pulled out of Aberdeen last year. With the number of empty units growing week by week, question marks are hanging over several city-centre businesses.

A Scottish Government spokesman batted the ball back into the council’s court.

He said any measures will have to be decided by the administration formed in the wake of the impending election.

The Holyrood representative added: “The Scottish Government is committed to helping business recovery and has provided more than £4.7 billion in support since the beginning of the pandemic.

“That includes around £1.6bn in rates relief which includes a continuation of 50% retail, hospitality and leisure rates relief for the first three months of 202223, capped at £27,500 per ratepayer.”

CALL FOR ACTION: MSP Douglas Lumsden, left, and Tory councillor Ryan Houghton outside recently closed salon, The Collective, in Union Street.