Some Chorleywood shopkeepers are worried that recent changes in rates may force them to increase prices of their merchandise.
The Government’s two year Retail Rate Relief scheme for small businesses came to an end in March 2016. As a result some retailers’ bills have changed considerably.
Sunil Gupta of Chorleywood Sports is incensed “I won’t get relief this year and the extra I have to pay compared with last year amounts to a 30% increase in my costs which I can’t pass on to my customers. In 2017 rates for properties valued below £12,000 will be zero, but properties on the Main Parade have just been revalued above £12,000 so these retailers will not get much, if any relief. They will be saddled with increasing bills. Small communities will be encumbered with undue burden and forced to quit and take the business away from small owners and hand them over to the big boys who do nothing for the community”.