§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, (1) pursuant to Cm 4917, if he will list the criteria for qualifying as a town improvement scheme; [138199]
(2) what businesses are to be included under his proposals for a supplementary business rate for funding town improvement schemes; and what the rates will be; [138198]
(3) pursuant to Cm 4917, if he will list the criteria for a local tax reinvestment programme; and how he will evaluate successful regeneration. [138200]
§ Ms Beverley HughesDetails of our proposals for a supplementary business rate and for a local tax reinvestment programme are contained in the Green Paper "Modernising Local Government Finance" (19 September 2000). The consultation period ends on 8 December.
Under our proposals, the supplementary rate would be limited to a maximum of 1 per cent. of the national rate per year, up to a ceiling of 5 per cent. The supplement could be raised from all non-domestic ratepayers in a smaller area such as a town centre, subject to agreement by a majority of the ratepayers affected, for use in ways agreed between the ratepayers and the council. The Green Paper suggests that this could be one way of funding town improvement schemes. The only criterion would be that use of the supplementary rate in this way would need to be agreed between a local council and its ratepayers.
Possible criteria for establishing and evaluating a local tax re-investment programme (LTRP) are included for consultation in Appendix 2 to Annex F of the Green Paper. A copy of this Appendix will be placed in the House of Commons Library.