Cornwall Council is the first unitary authority in the country to have paid back business rates on public toilets to operators, many of which are town and parish councils.
Leader of Cornwall Council, Cllr Linda Taylor said:
“I was delighted to hear from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) that Cornwall Council is the first unitary authority in the UK to pay back business rates to the operators of public toilets, many of whom are hard-pressed parish and town councils.”
“We have paid £168,664 back in business rates on public toilets from the 2020-21 year, and I must pay tribute to our officers, who must feel flushed with success at having actioned this so promptly.”
“That they were able to get their rates back at all is tribute to laws brought in by this Conservative Government, and actually dates back to the then-Prime Minister’s visit to Cornwall in 2015 where our Cornwall MPs brought what was a very unfair situation to his attention.”
“New legislation to exempt operators of public toilets from paying business rates has been in the pipeline ever since, and I am pleased that now it has successfully passed, Cornwall Council has done its bit and paid the business rates to the operators, making it easier to run these facilities for residents and visitors alike in the future.”
