YP Letters: High business rates killing off the high street

Are town centres being hurt by business rates?

OUR HIGH streets are becoming devoid of shops. So many have closed in York and even Harrogate, our most prosperous region. Yet what is being done?

Increasing the business rates and closing even more premises. We rent out eight commercial properties in Selby and we are rated with Scarborough and York, which are far more prosperous and tourist centres.

We have had all our properties’ rates increase, one by 27 per cent, one by 37 per cent and one by 79 per cent. We, as landlords, cannot increase rents as these small businesses are all suffering.

One, a restaurant, is paying £1,000 a month before rent and expenses, one is a former coal yard used for storing cars and rates have increased from £4 per metre to £11.

We have gone through the complicated check and challenge system to no avail.

Selby is a poor town full of hairdressers, charity shops and cafes with many businesses closing and many commercial properties up for sale or to let. The powers that be should wake up to the situation. The internet has a lot to do with shops closing but please do not close small businesses by increasing business rates to an unacceptable level.

Wrong kind of free parking

From: Mrs B Armstrong, Golden Square Caravan & Camping Park, Oswaldkirk, Helmsley, York.

I WOULD just like to say how I enjoyed GP Taylor’s article (The Yorkshire Post, June 6) on why tourist hotspots must ignore their residents and I agree wholeheartedly.

I have a strong issue at the moment regarding motorhomes parking on council car parks for free.

We have a caravan park just outside of Helmsley and have just discovered that the North Yorks Moors National Park Authority has passed a planning application for the car park in Helmsley, owned by Ryedale District Council, to allow motorhomes to park free between the hours of 6.30pm and 9am.

On looking into this further, apparently Helmsley in  Business put this forward, suggesting it would bring trade into the town.

At the hours allowed for the free parking all the local shops are closed so it would only be the two public houses and a handful of restaurants that would benefit.

I do not mind healthy competition as long as they have the same rules and regulations which apply to commercial parks.

Of course we get no reduction in our rates from Ryedale District Council.

I agree Helmsley needs tourists but it is rather sickening when Ryedale District Council undercuts local businesses by allowing free parking then doubling our rates.

Why not let local residents benefit and have free parking in the car park?

It would be more acceptable and beneficial to the local community.

Mind your language

From: G Cooper, Mill Street, Barlow, Dronfield.

With regard to your headline ‘May bows to calls to make rail absolute priority’ (The  Yorkshire Post, June 6), I thought it might be helpful to offer a short resume of Parliamentary language.

When a politician says something is “unacceptable”,  this means “I don’t know what to do”.

“Totally unacceptable” indicates that “none of us know what to do”.

“Absolutely unacceptable” means “Nope; still can’t think of anything”.

Squabbles shame MPs

From: Tarquin Holman, Marsden Court, Farsley, Leeds.

I wonder if they should change the name of House of Commons to the House of Squabbles after watching the childlike behaviour at Prime Minister’s Questions.

With all the serious  problems facing the country like the state of the NHS and street crimes, their number-one priority with their time should be addressing and getting rid of the mess, not nodding their heads achieving nothing, grinning like cats. Please nod if you agree! Or not.

Libraries need professionals

From: Martin Vaughan, Stannington Road, Sheffield.

Volunteer libraries are an eternal slap in the face with a wet kipper for Sheffield library users.

Keeping Stannington’s three wonderful library assistants would have been the best option for the community.

Shutting the library and redirecting people to the remaining professionally run libraries, improving public transport links and perhaps using supplementary  volunteers help run a professionally managed outreach service to people who couldn’t get into the remaining libraries via the mobile service, would have been the second-best solution.

To use the health service analogy, I would rather travel further to get professional, competent health treatment than have a poor-quality facility run by amateurs just around the corner from me.

Stannington deserves better.

Trump’s ego no solution

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

Does anyone really believe that former reality star Donald Trump has succeeded in making the world a safer place by his agreement with Kim Jong-un about disarmament of the latter’s nuclear programme? (The Yorkshire Post, June 14)

I don’t think there has ever been a US president so full of his own importance and so deluded as to its extent.