|
Yet again, the Tories are scaremongering - this time, it was about
an exaggerated rate of pub closures in Scotland and seemingly denial
that we have an alcohol fuelled crime problem in Scotland. Oh, and
to compound matters, John Lamont was (again) trying to take
credit for policy on abolition of business rates, without giving any
credit to SNP Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney and the
SNP Government. It was an SNP 2007 election manifesto
commitment......
in the Berwickshire News, 8 May 2008
Sir,
The Tory Westminster candidate (letters, April 24) gives the Tory
Borders HQ at Melrose as his correspondence address, but states he
has banned the UK Chancellor from his hotel, which is in Dumfries
and Galloway. My fellow readers can draw their own conclusions on
this discrepancy.
He links a figure of ten pub closures every week to changes in
licensing in Scotland. He neglects to inform your readers that this
figure relates to closures across the whole of the UK, and that 80%
of closures are in urban areas, predominantly in SE England, where
many are converted into residential developments. CAMRA (2007 data,
published in 2008) indicates that closures are virtually identical
in number to those in 2006. Linking closures to Scottish Government
policy is nonsense, as the proposed changes (passed in 2005) do not
take full effect until autumn 2009.
Meanwhile the Small Business Bonus Scheme established by the SNP
Government is already breathing new life into high streets and
benefiting many local publicans in their pockets. In reply to John
Lamont's letter on that, let's be clear: the £73 million cut in
business rates and boost to the small business sector would not have
happened at all without the election of the SNP Government with an
ambitious manifesto to develop Scotland's economy and society.
Scotland's licensing boards receive £2.9m in fees, but face £4.5m
in costs to administer licensing. The new scheme will be
self-financing, and will fund a new network of enforcement officers
to police licensees and monitor the impact of pubs and off sales on
communities, e.g. in terms of anti-social behaviour. This has been
welcomed by COSLA, the local authority umbrella group. Good
publicans, who are the majority, have nothing to fear, but
communities will get enforcement action when needed.
The proposed costs are not punitive. Premises (pubs and
off-sales) with a rateable value above £140,000 will pay a maximum
charge of £2,000, but at the lower end of the scale, which is more
typical of pubs in the Borders, there would be a maximum application
fee of £800, plus a maximum annual fee of £220 thereafter. Even if
there weren't a backdrop of business rate cuts, this would be
unlikely to put a pub out of business.
The thing which is most likely to damage the prospects of current
or prospective publicans or other licensees, is scaremongering by
the Tories and their ilk, as it will knock investor and licensee
confidence in the sector.
Yours faithfully
Paul Wheelhouse
SNP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate,
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk |
|
