Thames Valley: Hicks Baker assesses 2017 draft valuation list for business rates 

September 30, 2016, saw the introduction of The Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) draft valuation list for the assessment of business rates on commercial property in England and Wales. These rating valuations will come into effect from April 1, 2017. The ‘standard’ 2017 Uniform Business Rate (UBR) is expected to be 48.0p, a reduction of 1.7p from the 2016 UBR.

With a dedicated retail agency department that covers the Thames Valley, Hicks Baker have reviewed a random sample of these new valuations across key towns in the region to identify the impact they will have on retailers. 

It looked at the towns of Reading, Windsor, Slough, Marlow, Henley, Newbury, Wokingham and Maidenhead and, where locations permitted, reviewed a selection of valuations of units in ‘prime pitch on a high street’, 'shopping centres' and 'out-of-town retail', to assess how the new draft list compares to the current 2010 rating list. 

Hicks Baker also looked at retailer Boots, which has a regional presence in all of the towns, to see what the regional impact might look like to the chain. Lastly, with Hicks Baker based in Reading, it also reviewed how the valuations vary from pitch to pitch across Reading town centre.

Across the towns selected, many of the prime pitches on the high street locations have an increased rateable value, with increases ranging from 2.3% to 33.3%, however, retailers in prime pitches in Newbury and Reading will benefit from reductions of between 10% and 20% and in some secondary locations in Reading they have reduced by up to 43%.

Fiona Brownfoot, director at Hicks Baker, said: “We would have expected the valuations for Wokingham and Maidenhead to have reduced but in the prime pitches in those locations this has not been the case.  However, the increases of popular destinations such as Marlow and Henley were expected, in part due to their lack of ‘competing’ shopping centres within those towns and their quintessentially English market town attraction.

"Overall the region’s shopping centre rateable values have increased on average by 4.3%, two remained the same, with all others increasing. This was to be expected, given the gradual decline in high street shopping destinations in preference of retail and leisure schemes such as Reading’s Oracle. (LDC, September 2016).

"With the exception of Wokingham, where the out-of-town retail is very limited, all other retail parks have increased in their valuations. This was also expected following the growth in consumer’s preference of out of town retailing, with its free parking, convenience and expanding range of operators. 

"From the random sample, Reading’s average change is a reduction in rateable value of 8.8%. With the exception of Queen Victoria Street, all other pitches have either remained the same or benefitted from a reduction, even the ‘prime’ end of Broad Street, opposite the Oracle entrance. St Marys Butts enjoyed the most significant of these reductions, followed by the opposite end of Broad Street, then Chain Street. Although, not as many locations have decreased as expected such as Market Place, which remains unchanged.”

Prime pitch on a high street 

Shopping centres

Out-of-town retail parks 

Reading town centre

Boots