Yesterday Graham Wilson, Nabma’s Chief Executive, met with officers of the Valuation Office to discuss the ongoing issue of the proposed rating reassessment of market halls.

Nabma members will be aware that this is an issue that Nabma has been pursuing on behalf of it members for several months and as part of the considerable work undertaken advice has been received from a specialist rating expert. Nabma, in conjunction with NMTF, has also taken specialist legal advice from counsel.

At yesterday’s meetings discussions involved the range of questions that Valuation Officers will need to address in order to consider the status of market halls.Nabma has produced an exhaustive list of questions that are intended to provide important background information on the unique position of markets. The list of questions was accepted as a sensible basis to any preliminary consideration of the proposed reassessment.

However the Valuation Office will not proceed with circulating the list of questions until they have responded to the proposal put forward by Nabma yesterday.

In providing earlier information the Valuation Office had indicated that any reassessment would be backdated to 2005.This causes very great concern to Nabma given the prospect of many markets having to cope with rating reassessments that would increase liability by a factor of approximately 2.5.Following consultation with our rating expert Nabma has tabled a proposal that while it cannot support the proposed reassessment the Valuation Office should consider delaying any reassessment until 2010.

Such a move will allow all the relevant information to be collected and assessed. It will also provide an opportunity for the full implications to be taken into account. The Valuation Officers emphasise that they are aware of the difficult trading conditions being experienced by markets and they do not wish to create a situation that results in markets having to face closure because of the implementation f this proposal. The proposal has therefore been taken away for consideration and hopefully we will get a response by the date of our Annual Conference.

Nabma has also been active on the parliamentary front and Ann Coffey MP, Secretary of the APPG, has written to the appropriate Treasury Minister about Nabma’s concerns. Ann has promised us her full support over the issue.

When I last wrote on this issue I mentioned the receipt of a detailed legal advice note from Simon Duffy of counsel. Several Nabma members requested copies of that advice. If any other members would like a copy please contact the Nabma office.

I mentioned earlier that the rates reassessment will be featured as part of the Retail Forum on the Monday afternoon of conference. Please come to that Forum and get the latest information.