Council renews business rates support scheme for city centre traders

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Eligible traders in Newport could continue to receive a business rate reduction of up to 65% in the coming financial year.

City councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt the Welsh Government’s renewed 40% support for businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors.

The vote also means the council’s own 25% local rate relief scheme will be readopted for city centre businesses in the same sectors.

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, who leads Newport City Council, said more than 120 businesses had benefited from the local authority’s own scheme this year.

“We need a culture of independent businesses in our city centre,” the council’s deputy leader, Cllr Deb Davies, told colleagues at Tuesday’s meeting.

Independent councillor Miqdad Al-Nuaimi, whose Stow Hill ward includes much of the city centre, said he would “very much welcome” the support for traders.

Cllr James Clarke, the cabinet member for regeneration, said it was “tough times at the moment” for traders, but “we are trying to move Newport forwards”.

He also said potential investors in Newport would see the rate relief schemes in a positive light.

The council’s Conservative group leader, Cllr Matthew Evans, said his party backed the extra support for businesses.

But Cllr David Fouweather said he was “concerned about the number of empty shops” and said tackling them should be a “priority” for the council.

However, Cllr Batrouni said it is a “continuing misconception” that the local authority owns the city centre.

Many of the premises are in private hands, and the council has limited powers to either encourage owners to breathe new life into buildings, or take enforcement action against landlords of problematic properties.

But Cllr Batrouni, who has previously teased there are plans afoot for the city centre, told those present at the meeting that 2025 will be “the year of regeneration” in Newport.

Cllr Emma Stowell-Corten, the cabinet member for culture, added the rate relief schemes are “clearly working” because of the proportion of independent traders in the city centre.