Potemkin High Streets

[Gfamily]

How on earth they think they'll get this to work

Shop owners to be forced to rent out empty premises, government says

[dyqik]

How on earth they think they'll get this to work

Shop owners to be forced to rent out empty premises, government says

Several towns and cities here have introduced increased taxes on empty business properties, unless the windows display artwork or similar.

[Bird on a Fire]

How on earth they think they'll get this to work

Shop owners to be forced to rent out empty premises, government says

Several towns and cities here have introduced increased taxes on empty business properties, unless the windows display artwork or similar.

Yeah, some of the shopfronts in our local mall just have window displays advertising other shops elsewhere in the mall...

[lpm]

This will help some people.

Money launderers.

[Gfamily]

How on earth they think they'll get this to work

Shop owners to be forced to rent out empty premises, government says

Several towns and cities here have introduced increased taxes on empty business properties, unless the windows display artwork or similar.

Not quite the same, but we saw a similar shopwashing in Enniskillen before the G8 in 2013
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-22738710

[Bird on a Fire]

If it enables the creation of more community spaces etc it'd be a good thing, but non-profits would still need exemptions from rates and stuff and I've got no idea what they're entitled to.

How about high street food banks in Tory towns, right next to wherever rich people shop? (With another location for more private clients, of course)

[dyqik]

This will help some people.

Money launderers.

It's interesting that this is essentially a Tory attack on landowners.

And it's not a big leap from this to forcing second homes to be leased out.

[jdc]

If it enables the creation of more community spaces etc it'd be a good thing, but non-profits would still need exemptions from rates and stuff and I've got no idea what they're entitled to.

I dunno about stuff (presumably non-profits would still need to pay the sky-high electricity bills etc), but rate relief is a thing:

Charities and community amateur sports clubs can apply for charitable rate relief of up to 80% if a property is used for charitable purposes.

Contact your local council to:

• check if you’re eligible
• find out if they can top up the discount to 100% (called ‘discretionary relief’)

(And I just found out that "buildings used for training or welfare of disabled people" are exempt from business rates so wouldn't need to rely on the council being decent about the 20% discretionary.)

I'm seeing more non-profits close than open round here; possibly because they can't afford the non-business rates expenses like leccy, or because they lost their council grant when the Tories cut council funding and haven't been able to find replacement funding.