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But both have expressed concern at the fall in retail. The statistics from the government’s national business rates revaluation were discussed at Thursday night’s meeting of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s executive board. They compare the gross rateable value of businesses in the borough at November 2022 with that in 2017. The figures show that overall it has risen by 8.4 per cent with the industrial sector up by 20.2 per cent, office valuations up by 7.9 per cent and other businesses by 9.8 per cent.
“This increase in rateable value compares favourably with both the national picture for England which overall has seen an increase in of 7.3 per cent and the North-West where the rateable value on average has increased by 7.4 per cent. Further work is necessary to understand what the impact of the revaluation will be on the council’s share of retained business rates.”