North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood is concerned that Flintshire County Council’s decision requiring 16 Scout groups to pay up to £570 in business rates each year could set a precedent across Wales.
The Council changed its discretionary rate relief policy last April, affecting charities and voluntary groups, claiming that this would help with its own budget shortfall.
More than 7,700 people have signed a petition calling on Flintshire Council to reverse its decision, with Chief Scout Bear Grylls having pledged support for the campaign.
In the Assembly Chamber this week, Mr Isherwood called for a Welsh Government Statement on the matter, expressing concern that Flintshire’s position could prompt other local authorities to follow suit.
He said:
“You might have seen in the last week widespread coverage of Bear Grylls's support, as the Chief Scout in the UK, of the petition in Flintshire, which by then had gathered 7,700 signatures, against Flintshire Council's unique proposal so far amongst Councils in Wales to remove discretionary rate relief from Scout groups where they have their own headquarter buildings.
“This will affect 16 Scouting groups in Flintshire, but only raises for the Council somewhere around, at a maximum, £6,000 a year, at high cost given the social benefits that the Scouting groups are delivering in the communities in which they work. Now, you might state that this is a matter for the Council's budget, but the potential precedent this could set across Wales is concerning more widely. I therefore call for a Statement on the matter.”
Leader of the House, Julie James AM, replied: “In terms of the Scouts decision in Flintshire, the Member is entirely right - it is a matter for the local authority. And whilst I understand the Member's understandable concerns about some of these decisions, it is a discretionary decision, and the whole point about a discretion is that it's exercised locally by local politicians who are seized of the matter.”
Mr Isherwood added: “It is disingenuous for Flintshire County Council to state that it contacted affected charities and voluntary groups, and signposted them to apply for hardship rate relief, when, as I stated in the Assembly Chamber last June, scout groups in Flintshire had already been refused access to Flintshire Council’s hardship fund, and when local campaigners tell me that Charity Commission rules stop them from being eligible in the first place and that the hardship fund would only provide a one off payment anyhow. As they state ‘Scout Groups should not pay business rates and a tax on children is wrong’.
“The tiny cost saving involved is also a false economy, where Scout Groups are actually relieving cost pressures on Council Services. This Council should instead work smarter, acknowledging the independent research which has found that scouting helps young people build key skills, has a positive impact on mental well-being and helps with future employability.”