§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the date by which the last council tax banding appeals are expected to be heard(a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire.
§ Mr. Robert B. JonesWe expect four out of five initial appeal period appeals to be settled before the end of this year. The remainder will be settled as soon as possible in 1995. I cannot estimate a date by which all such appeals will have been settled since a few may be affected by special factors—such as an appeal on a point of law to the High Court.
In limited circumstances—for example, on a change of occupier or in the case of a material change affecting the
1010Wscheme is the inner London, with 45 per cent. of its properties in transition. The incidence is greater than elsewhere for each main sector of the economy, regardless of whether the 1 April 1990 rateable value of property is more or less than the £15,000 threshold used for determining entitlement to transitional relief. The figures for each class of property are given in the table.
property—appeals can still be made after the end of the initial period.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the percentage of new properties awaiting banding, which has been waiting more than one year(a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire;
(2) what is the expected date by which the last of the new properties that have been waiting more than a year for their banding will have been banded (a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire.
§ Mr. Robert B. JonesThe local office structure of the Valuation Office Agency is not based on county boundaries and the information for each county is not held centrally. Of the dwellings to be added to valuation lists in the county and district areas of Berkshire, as at 28 October, the following percentage had been outstanding for more than a year:-
per cent. Berkshire 12.4 Bracknell Forest 3.4 Newbury 21.1 Reading 6.5 Slough 2.5 Windsor and Maidenhead 4.0 Wokingham 18.9 The Valuation Office Agency at Reading expects to have these dwellings entered in valuation lists before the end of November this year.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of council tax banding appeals made(a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire.
§ Mr. Robert B. JonesThe local office structure of the Valuation Office Agency is not based on county boundaries and the information requested at(a) is not held centrally.
The number of council tax banding appeals made, as at 28 October, in each district of Berkshire are as follows:
1011W
Appeals Berkshire 17,821 Bracknell Forest 1,756 Newbury 3,663 Reading 4,669
Appeals Slough 1,276 Windsor and Maidenhead 3,359 Wokingham 3,098
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many council tax banding appeals were heard by 30 September(a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire.
§ Mr. Robert B. JonesThe local office structure of the Valuation Office Agency is not based on counties. The only centrally held statistics that provide figures for counties are those relating to appeals made during the initial period. The number of initial period council tax banding appeals settled by the end of September were as follows:
1012W
Appeals (a) County Avon 12,157 Bedfordshire 5,649 Berkshire 9,616 Buckinghamshire 9,156 Cambridgeshire 5,616 Cheshire 10,991 Cleveland 3,535 Cornwall 8,749 Cumbria 7,721 Derbyshire 10,602 Devon 19,339 Dorset 11,563 Durham 5,432 East Sussex 11,089 Essex 19,867 Gloucestershire 11,086 Hampshire 18,297 Hereford and Worcestershire 10,740 Hertfordshire 9,078 Humberside 7,693 Isle of Wight 2,330 Kent 19,312 Lancashire 15,432 Leicestershire 8,588 Lincolnshire 8,068 Norfolk 8,511 Northamptonshire 6,358 Northumberland 4,432 North Yorkshire 14,140 Nottinghamshire 9,745 Oxford 10,091 Shropshire 6,670 Somerset 8,709 Staffordshire 9,463 Suffolk 7,200 Surrey 14,919 Warwickshire 6,444 West Sussex 10,971 Wiltshire 9,801 Isles of Scilly 165 Inner London 36,284 Outer London 44,834 Greater Manchester 16,016 Merseyside 8,870 South Yorkshire 6,900 Tyne and Wear 6,564 West Midlands 14,966 West Yorkshire 18,663 (b) Billing authority in Berkshire Bracknell Forest 845 Newbury 1,791
Appeals Reading 2,413 Slough 781 Windsor and Maidenhead 1,935 Wokingham 1,851
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many new properties are awaiting banding(a) by county and (b) by district in Berkshire.
§ Mr. Robert B. JonesThe local office structure of the Valuation Office Agency is not based on county boundaries and the information for each county is not held centrally.
Of the dwellings notified to the VOA office at Reading, as at 28 October, the following number had yet to be entered in valuation lists:
Number Berkshire 1,577 Bracknell Forest 116 Newbury 452 Reading 367 Slough 119 Windsor and Maidenhead 222 Wokingham 301