Nursery faces Â£6.3k rates hike

Asis Allaudin who owns The Tower Nursery at Garngaber Avenue told the Herald he faces the substantial rise after a recent  revaluation of his premises.

As a small business owner, Mr Allaudin says he simply cannot afford to find an extra £6,300 a year.

After the April, his business rates are due to go up to £20,750 per year.

He said: “We will be inclined to pass this on to  parents. It’s a huge increase, equating to an extra £6,300 per year”.

The Tower Nursery has places for 52 children from babies up to 3-years-old and pre-school. It also provides  after school care.

Mr Allaudin said: “This is a very well used nursery and about to expand.

“We are also the only  nursery in the area to take babies.

“We operate right in the heart of Lenzie, based at the end of Garngaber Avenue.”

The nursery which opened two years ago, now employs 12 full-time members of staff.

According to Mr Allaudin, another four employees, all  local people, are about to be taken on.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our package of measures delivers a tax cut of £155 million which will help those who might be impacted by a revaluation.

“It will also mean that from April 1 more than half of businesses will pay no rates, seven out of ten will pay either no or less rates than they do currently, and the total package of reliefs we are offering will increase to more than £660 million.

“ Councils are empowered to apply further reductions to address any local issues as they see fit.

“Any business that is concerned about its valuation should contact the assessor and discuss how they worked out the provisional value.

“Companies have until September to appeal and we would encourage firms to take up those opportunities.”

He added that from April the Scottish government is extending the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which provides 100% rates relief, to business premises with values up to £15,000.

According to the spokesperson that means the total number of premises who pay no rates at all will be 100,000, almost half of all rateable premises.