§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many(a) village pubs, (b) post offices and (c) petrol stations in the Buckingham constituency have received rate relief in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02. [220331
§ Dr. WhiteheadTo qualify for village shop rate relief properties must be located in a qualifying settlement. That is one that is located in a designated rural area and has a population of less than 3,000. Although qualifying rural areas are designated centrally it is the responsibility of the local authorities to identify qualifying settlements of less than 3,000 persons in these rural areas. They are not required to notify us of these settlements. Therefore, we do not know where or how many properties in a particular area are in qualifying rural settlements.
Neither do we know how many properties have been granted relief. Although local authorities provide the Department with the amount of rate relief granted in any year this is not broken down into the different types of property that are eligible to receive it. Neither are they 1020W required to say how many properties have received relief. However, from next year we will be asking local authorities to provide such breakdowns in their returns.
In 2000–01 Aylesbury Vale district council granted £18,095 in mandatory rate relief to qualifying village premises and for 2001–02 they estimate the figure to be £20,535.