Saturday 25 June 2011

Arlington Update: Margate businesses should demand a reduction in their business rates

News from the Arlington House Margate blog: Suggesting that Margate businesses could do well to appeal their business rates on the grounds that the authority is recommending approval of the proposed Superstore with a loss of trade of 10% for Margate businesses. it has been successfully achieved in other towns.

Margate is often cited as having the street with the most vacant shops in the country. Is it really acceptable for the local authority to be walking the remaining shops into further decline?

 

More info:

http://arlingtonhousemargate.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/margate-businesses-should-ask-for-a-reduction-in-business-rates/

11 comments:

  1. But TDC do not get the Business Rates, they only collect tehm and pass to central government. Also, why should these shops get any rate reduction, It is the shoppers who do not want to shop with the, remember, the CUSTOMER is KING!. Make your shops attractive, sales staff polite, prices cheap, or go out of business and quit MOANING!

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  2. Not even outline planning consent has been granted and already demands for a business rates reduction based on the highest "pull" figure relating to Margate from the report?

    The case for a reduction is just not there.

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  3. They also estimate that 20% of custom will also be taken away from Westwood Cross, so should the businesses their get reduced rates too?

    My glass is still half full over this.

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  4. I know TDC don't earn the business rates. But they are making a decision, which knowingly, even by conservative estimations, will man local traders businesses will suffer.

    Outline planning has been submitted for the hotel at the seafront side. The rest of the proposal is a proposal. We have no guarantees the hotel will be built. And given the behaviour of Freshwater for the last 40 years, we should have little confidence they will honour anything.

    There is clearly a case for a reduction especially since this proposal flies in the face of The Arlington Planning Brief 2008.

    The Westwood Cross calculation would probably also have to calculate the amount they took away from margate, broadstairs and ramsgate in the first place.

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  5. If you're calculating it like that then Westbrook (where the grocery shops pretty much disappeared prior to Westwood Cross) would have to look at how Margate took away most of it's business during the '90s...

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  6. Garlinge incidentally has fared even worse. When I lived there from 1987 to 1990 there were three grocery stores (including one with a post office in it), two greengrocers, a butchers, a bakers & a large diy / hardware store amongst others, all in Garlinge High Street. By 2000 they'd pretty much disappeared as everyone was shopping in Margate instead...

    This is why the idea of Tesco is so popular with the people of Westbrook / Garlinge, as there's not much else left here.

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  7. Sorry, Peter, I don't follow. Are you equating a local authority's decision to open a very large superstore that by their own conservative estimates will definitely reduce trade in the area (Westbrook Westgate, Garlinge etc included ) with a town's range of independently run shops? I'm not sure how a town of small shops that run independently is the same as a single corporate entity. Also, really you also have to look at where the money goes when it goes into a single corporate company as opposed to many independents. The New Economics Foundation is worth looking at.

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  8. It certainly wasn't small independent Margate stores that closed down most the shops in Westbrook & Garlinge, it was Safeways, Marks & Spencers, Woolworths, etc.

    I really wish this Tesco decision was down to a vote by local people; of the dozens of people that I've spoken to here in Westbrook I've yet to find anyone that opposes it. We WANT somewhere within walking distance to get a full range of groceries at a reasonable price, not yet more cafes & restaurants.

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  9. All Margate independent businesses should get a tax brake, as many multinationals pay little tax as there based off shore.

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  10. We already have a Morrisons. Their meat and fish is excellent. The fruit and veg is fresh and reasonably priced. There are also multiple discounts in the evenings. And they have ethics. Tesco is a monster company which grinds suppliers into bankruptcy and condones slave labour. Sod them.
    Besides the current development of 21 units next to the Premier Inn means that the roundabout will have to be altered at great expense. Which will then go on the council tax.
    But what else is to be done? Who is going to take this site on if not Tesco? I think most people who want to shop there already go to the one in Westwood. Will the Arlington residents use it? Who walks along the seafront to go to Tesco? Anyway the sewers are not up to it. But as I said what else is there?

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  11. From Isle of Thanet Gazette Facebook page:

    Arlington Tesco latest: The Secretary of State is not calling in the decision to allow the store so Thanet Council's decision stands. The supermarket can be built.

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