Heywood councillors questioned as to why business rates pilot scheme is only in Rochdale

Councillor Jacqui Beswick

Councillors sitting on the Heywood Township Committee meeting have been asked why proposals for a business rates scheme had only been agreed for Rochdale and not Heywood.

Dr Marian Corns asked councillors the question during the Heywood Township Committee open forum on (Monday 5 January) and added: “that this could sabotage Heywood.”

Councillors were quick to address the issue but wanted to assure residents that if the scheme is to go ahead in the future that they will make sure it comes to
Heywood.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick said: “I believe that it should be across the whole of the borough but this is just a pilot scheme to begin with and if it doesn’t work
then I don’t want it in Heywood. If it is successful then yes, it should come here. Rochdale has a lot of empty shops and I think that is why it is going to
Rochdale.”

In December, members of Rochdale Council’s cabinet approved a pilot scheme in selected areas of Rochdale town centre that will give new businesses moving into an empty shop an 80% discount on their business rates for the first year, with a 50% cut in the second year.

Councillor Carol Wardle added: “If I had a shop in Heywood and someone came along and bought the shop next to me selling the same goods as me but they got a reduction in business rates, then that is not a level playing field. Until we see how it works in Rochdale, perhaps we are fortunate not to have it.”

Councillor Wardle added that Heywood has received help in the past in regards to shops where as other townships haven’t, including a scheme that allowed the town to brighten up shop fronts with new facias and fittings.