The Scottish Government

Retail

RECOMMENDATION

COMMENT

51. There is a need to rationalise the Uniformed Business Rate. The Scottish Parliament needs to manage UBR to a level which gives the retail sector competitive fairness through a reduced cost base. The Parliament should also consider the retention of transitional relief, a move towards more frequent property revaluation and the rationalisation of the rating system.

The increase in the Scottish Poundage rate each year has been tied to the RPI in line with England (other sources of local authority funding have been increasing more sharply). Scottish small businesses also receive a 2p poundage discount not available in England.
The Scottish rate poundage was set after the last revaluation to ensure that a typical Scottish business paid no more in rates than its counterpart in England, where rateable values had increased more sharply.
See 9, 16, 42 and 46
Revaluations will continue to occur every 5 years, since more frequent revaluations would lessen the certainty businesses have about what their rates bills will be for the coming years. A transitional relief scheme was introduced once again at the last revaluation.

52. The Scottish Parliament should take steps to ensure that an efficient legislative environment for the retail sector exists. Legislative divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK should be kept to a minimum and the existing burden of red tape lightened.

See 19

53. The Scottish Parliament should adopt a partnership approach to tackling the level of retail crime in Scotland.

The Scottish Forum on Community Safety, chaired by the Deputy Minister for Justice, met for the first time on 26 November 2001. The Forum will consider at the next meeting how Community Safety Partnerships established in all 32 local councils can link more effectively with the business sector in tackling crime and improving community safety.

54. There needs to be a rationalisation of planning control. The Scottish Parliament should develop a balanced and flexible approach to retail planning and development, including proactive and co-ordinated policy to ensure the vitality of town centres.

National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG8) gives priority to new retail developments in town centres. PAN45 encourages a proactive approach to town centre improvement. In support of the policy, Scottish Enterprise has commissioned research into better co-ordinated and directed funding for town centres.

55. The retail sector is dependent on the transportation infrastructure. There is a need for a strong, well developed transportation infrastructure that enables an efficient and cost effective retail sector. In particular, there is a need to look at transportation policy for town centres (including curfews), road pricing and there is an urgent need for major investment in the road network.

Research is to be undertaken which will look at the impact of retailing on transport. Road pricing is a matter for the UK Government to explore, however, the Executive is supporting the City of Edinburgh's proposals for a road user charging scheme (see 4). The Executive already invests in the motorway and trunk roads network, and the 2001-04 programme commits the Executive to deliver 660m of improvements and maintenance.

56. There is a need to address the lack of detailed statistical information and research on the Scottish retail sector. In particular there is a need to improve consumer expenditure figures and employment statistics and a need to consider the reintroduction of a census of retailing and the production of a new retail price index for Scotland.

From 1998 the Annual Business Inquiry has provided improved employment statistics at a Scotland level. From spring 2002 GDP data will be disaggregated down to include data on the retail sector.