NEWS FrOm ThE COuNCil2BrOadlaNd BuSiNESS FOCuSWelcome to theSpring edition of theBroadland Business FocusFrom 19 March 2012 we will berelocating our entire Business CourseProgramme to the brand new,purpose built Centre for Eco andBusiness Training on the RackheathIndustrial Estate. Please see page 5for the full details of this excitingmove to our state of the art facility.Over the coming months theEconomic Development Team will beexploring initiatives which may assistsmall businesses within the Districtto expand and potentially employstaff for the first time or indeed addto their existing workforce. Morenews of this piece of work will bemade available as initiatives develop.The beginning of the financial yearwill see our Business Start Up andEnterprise Grants being availableonce again, please don't hesitate tocontact a member of the teamshould you wish any further detailson these.Our Broadland Business BreakfastForum (BBBF) events are going fromstrength to strength. Typically 50+businesses attend these quarterlyevents covering a wide range ofinteresting and thought provokingtopics. If you would like furtherdetails of how you could becomeinvolved with these, call a member ofThe Lively Crew on 08456 345 185.Finally, if you have any business relatedissues for which you would like someadvice, please do not hesitate tocontact a member of the EconomicDevelopment Team who will bedelighted to help on 01603 430449.WelcomeBroadland Business Focus is published quarterly and aims to keep youinformed of help available, future events, changes in regulations andother key issues for your business.If you have any contributions for the newsletter or would like anyinformation or advice, please contact the Economic Development Teamat Broadland District Council, Thorpe Lodge, 1 Yarmouth Road,Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich NR7 0DU.Tel: (01603) 430449Fax:(01603) 430561Email: business@broadland.gov.uk or go to www.broadland.gov.uk(click on 'business')Hamish MelvilleEconomicDevelopment Manager

NEWS FrOm ThE COuNCilThe Government has announced that theenhancements to small business rate reliefwhich have been in place since October 2010will continue for the whole of the financialyear 2012/13 (until 31 March 2013). This means that eligible ratepayers willcontinue to receive relief at 100% onproperties with a rateable value up to £6,000(rather than 50% relief), and a tapering relieffrom 100% to 0% for properties withrateable values up to £12,000 for the periodup to 31 March 2013. The basic conditions of qualifying for reliefare that a ratepayer should occupy either:a) one property, orb) one main property and other additionalproperties providing those additionalproperties each have a rateable value whichdoes not exceed £2,599.Please note, the rateable value of all of theproperties which the ratepayer occupies mustnot exceed £17,999. Those with rateablevalues of between £12,000 and £17,999 willbe eligible to pay rates calculated using thelower multiplier but will not qualify for therelief itself. Until now, where businesses fulfill thequalifying conditions they will be charged ontheir main property using a lower multiplierthan that used for other ratepayers. TheGovernment is removing the existingcriterion which requires that ratepayersoccupy only one property in England in orderto be eligible to have their liability calculatedby reference to the small business multiplier.However liability in respect of unoccupiedproperties cannot be calculated by referenceto the small business multiplier and thechanges do not, therefore, affect the positionfor unoccupied properties. Neither do thechanges affect the position for ratepayersentitled to other mandatory reliefs.If you have any queries or think that youmay be eligible for relief please contact thenon domestic rating section on 01603 430604 or 430440.Changes to small business raterelief schemeBrOadlaNd BuSiNESS FOCuS3If you would like this information in a different format, such as large print, audio, Braille or in a different language please call (01603) 431133 and wewill do our best to help.www.broadland.gov.uk