Vanishing shop space
0More than a quarter of all retail floor space in England and Wales has disappeared since the 2008 crisis, according to a recent study by Northumbria University.
The report, cited in the Guardian, also shows the rateable value of property falling in two-thirds of the authorities covered by the survey.
Since 2013, councils have been able to keep half of the business rates raised within their boundaries.
In 2015, then chancellor, George Osborne proposed that councils should, by 2020, be able to lower business rates to encourage growth and benefit from the subsequent increase in revenue from non-domestic rates.
The fall in rateable values over the period could therefore have an important effect on councils’ finances, the study suggests.
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