Jeremy Hunt is to be commended for recognising that unfair business rates are pushing many high street businesses, especially small traders like butchers and confectioners, to the edge of bankruptcy.
However, traders would be ill-advised simply to wait for the fine detail of Hunt's proposals, and to delay challenging their present rates demands.
Commercial Property Advisors (CPA) offers a speedy, worry-free no win no fee service, including all paperwork and surveys.
Experience tells us that there is always a tension between politicians' promises, however well-meaning, and the reliance by local authorities and others on rates revenue to balance their cash-strapped budgets.
This is an ideal time to consider the prospect of saving thousands by challenging a system of taxation which is arbitrary and unable to take account of changing patterns of retail trade, or precise features of property, all of which make contacting CPA for advice and help a priority, whatever political promises may be in the air.
