Tax relief for public toilets plan is backed

PEERS HAVE welcomed plans to boost the provision of public toilets by exempting them from business rates.

The tax relief contained in the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill has already been backed by MPs. The legislation, which applies to public facilities in England and Wales, won crossparty backing in the Lords.

Housing, Communities and Local Government minister Lord Greenhalgh said the move would cut operating costs for public toilets and help “keep these important facilities open”.

Opening second reading debate on the legislation, Lord Greenhalgh said the Bill would apply retrospectively from April 2020, ensuring the relief was backdated to the start of the financial year.

The minister also introduced the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No 2) Bill, which has also cleared the Commons, This Bill postpones the next business rates revaluation for England and Wales until April 1 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lord Greenhalgh hailed this as an “exceptional step taken in exceptional circumstances”.

Labour’s Baroness Andrews blamed cuts in council funding for toilet closures and the “disgusting nature” of some of the remaining ones. Lady Andrews welcomed the Bill but called for a national strategy to ensure better provision of high-standard public facilities.

Liberal Democrat Lord Shipley said the business rates system was “broken” and needed urgent reform. Labour former Cabinet Minister Lord Hain warned that without a more “radical and comprehensive” solution on business rates, town centres would “die”.

Lord Hain said town centres were being undermined by high costs and urged the scrapping of business rates for microbusinesses.