Theresa May has welcomed the news that thousands of business properties in Maidenhead and the local area will benefit from a package to help the high street and support businesses, announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week. 9,000 businesses in the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham Borough will benefit from the measures, which include a business rate discount of up to £1,000 for retail premises including shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
Measures announced include:
- A 2 per cent cap on all business rate increases;
- £1,000 off business rate bills for all retail premises with a rateable value up to £50,000 for 2014/15 and 2015/16. This includes shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants;
- A new reoccupation relief, which will halve the rates bills of businesses taking over premises empty for over a year;
- The doubling of Small Business Rate Relief is being extended to April 2015 and expanded.
Commenting, Theresa said: “This help for the high street is very good news for Maidenhead and the local area. Thousands of local businesses will benefit from this package of support, including the local shops, pubs and cafes that people value on our high streets. This is a major boost to our efforts to rejuvenate Maidenhead town centre as these new measures will help support small businesses and encourage the use of business premises that are currently empty.”
