TEESSIDE LOCAL RATEPAYER VALUATION FORUM MEETING

29 July 2004

Meeting at Middlesbrough Football Club, Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough.

Members present at the meeting:

Apologies for absence were made by:
Carole Seymour (Stockton Borough Council) Colin Stratton (Federation of Small Businesses) John Megson (Hartlepool Business Leaders Forum) Peter Nicol (English Partnership) Paula Bass (Hartlepool Borough Council)

Welcomed
Andrew Plews (Middlesbrough Borough Council)

Colin Snowball opened the meeting by welcoming and thanking those attending. The minutes of the
24 March 2004 LRVF were accepted by the members as a true record.

Matters Arising from LRVF meeting 24 March 2004

Action Point raised:

• Forum members to consider further how we can benefit from the Hartlepool Portal.
  
  Action taken
• Colin Wills reported back to members that after considering the use of the Teesside Portal it was felt that members would benefit more by using National websites as opposed to Local sites for communications. No further action to be taken.

Action Point raised

• An informal meeting to be set up through the forum, to give further consideration to the issue of Transition for the 2005 Revaluation and provide feedback to Nic Suggit
  
  Action taken
• On 14 June an informal meeting took place at the Valuation Office Eagle Star House, Gosforth, Newcastle to discuss Transition for 2005. Those members that attended were Tim James and Rob McMullen of the North East Chamber of Commerce, Jason McNaught, Gateshead Billing Authority, Tony Capp, Andy Hallows Revaluation Project Manager and Lesley Morland Customer Service Manager. The meeting was very beneficial and provided some very useful background information on the current scheme.

Action Point raised

• Members would like regular feedback from Local Authorities on Growth Incentive Schemes
  
  Action taken
• Derek Crowe from Hartlepool Borough Council confirmed that he had not received any further information on Growth Incentive Schemes, or been approached by any of the LRVF members. This is to be an on going action point for members to contact their Billing Authority for information on the scheme if they wish to do so.

Action Point raised

• National Forum feedback to be a regular agenda item.
  
  Action taken
• An update from Tony Capp on the National Forum meeting held on 4 May 2004 is attached to these minutes with the slides of his presentation.

Action Point raised

• Members requested a Revaluation Timetable
  
  Action taken
• Revaluation Timetable of events attached to the 24 March 2004 LRVF minutes

Action Point raised

• Summaries of the main topics discussed at each LRVF meeting would be provided to members for use as articles for their members publications
  
  Action Taken
• Summary of Nic Suggit presentation was provided in article format and issued with the previous minutes. Colin Stratton confirmed that it had been published in his members publication.

Action Point raised

• Tony Capp to talk to Mary Morrison-Paton about VOA Communications launching more detailed information for ratepayers on the mybusiness rates site
  
  Action Taken
• Communications Strategy and the mybusiness rates site will be covered in the presentations given by Tony Capp and Lesley Morland. at this meeting

Feedback from members

Confirmation from North East Chamber of Commerce that an article would soon be published in its“ Contact” magazine. Members would like future articles to be provided covering a wide range of subjects

As part of our efforts to keep members up to date with developments on the revaluation, two articles are attached that have been prepared by the VOA Communications team for use by members in their publications. The articles differ in length, so that members can select whichever suits the amount of space available in their newsletters and magazines.

The main issues were covered at the May NRVF.- The revaluation itself, Summary Valuations and the new mybusinessrates.gov.uk website.

If you do use any of our articles please could you forward copies to Carol Wilson in order that we can assess the usefulness of the articles themselves and your membership of the Forum

This information is now on the Business Rates page.

Revaluation Update

Presentation by Andy Hallows Revaluation Project Manager.

Click here to view the Slides from the presentation (MS Powerpoint).

Communication Strategy

Lesley Morland Customer Service Manager

Revaluation Communication Strategy update by Lesley Morland
Lesley explained to the members that the present strategy is built around the issue of the summary valuations, one of the most important initiatives the Agency has undertaken in recent times. We need to raise awareness and understanding of summary valuations and the purpose behind the initiative. Our audience is split into three areas - Internal, Media and External.

Internal
The message to all staff is “We are one team working consistently to deliver an excellent customer service”.

Plans are already in hand to deal with SV queries at our help desk in the Newcastle location from the beginning of October. The expertise of technical staff will be used to back up the front line operators.

Media
Includes broadcast, print, and online at national and local levels, plus a variety of press sectors – consumer, business, professional and specialist publications. These key vehicles will be used for reaching different audience sectors.

The key message will be “Valuations are done with the ratepayer and not to them”. The SV initiative is about involvement of the ratepayer, leading to a better understanding and more acceptance of the valuation.

Products in the pipeline-mybusinessrates.gov.uk website, due to be launched in August. The site will have web-links to the VOA, ODPM, BAs, business organisations and professional bodies web-sites. Members were given hardcopy printouts of the site identity and home page. When the site goes live VOA Communication Unit will instigate a lobbying campaign to raise awareness and secure interviews.

In late August there will be a dedicated press campaign with the theme “make business rates your business” and in September “Summary Valuations are coming”, concentrating on ways to contact the VOA, the ability to view on line and emphasising our service is free.

External
Includes the Ratepayer, Billing Authorities, Members of Parliament and key organisations working with or for the ratepayer. In many cases we recognise that there are already communication avenues, we intend to use these existing vehicles to reach member audiences. We will provide prepared text for newsletters, web-sites and email alerts.

Information packs will be sent to Billing Authorities and Members of Parliament and made available for any group not fully aware of the VOA business.

The draft Rating List will be published on the website 1October 2004. The majority of ratepayers will receive SVs in hardcopy in October, issued in order of shops, offices and then other properties. SVs and Valuation schemes will be published on the VOA website ( www.voa.gov.uk ) along with an explanatory leaflet, frequently asked questions and a leaflet entitled “ business rates and revaluation made clear.” All leaflets will be produced in Welsh and ethnic minority languages. The VOA has a contract with Language Line enabling interpretation of a telephone conversation or translation of correspondence.

As well as mybusinessrates site the VOA website will be regularly updated with background information and progress showing key dates. The media campaigns will indirectly reach the ratepayer audience.

Transitional Relief update and Feedback from National Forum

Presentation by Tony Capp

Slides from the presentation attached (MS Powerpoint).

A broad summary of the NRVF meeting held on 11 May 2004 is also attached, the full minutes are available on the website.

“ The Ratepayers Perspective”

Roger Littlewood HBOS

Slides from the presentation are attached below.

Roger Littlewood informed members that he has been part of a working party looking into uniformity of commercial rates bills. The best practices from the working party are to be presented to ODPM in September/ October 2004. Members of the LRVF have raised their concerns about the uniformity of rates bills at an earlier forum meeting, perhaps this topic would be of interest to members and an item for future discussion.

“ Working at or from Home”

Chris Sykes, Council Tax Revaluation Project Manager, Leeds Group

Slides from the presentation are attached.

Any Other Business

Action Point raised

• Barry Morgan (Valuation Tribunal Services) and Philip Heppell (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) have agreed to do a presentation on Appeals Procedure and the Valuation Tribunal Service at a future forum meeting.

Action Point raised

• The Local Ratepayer Valuation Forum has now been running for one year, to assess the views of it’s members and monitor it’s success it has been decided to send out a questionnaire to all members sometime prior to the next meeting.

Colin Snowball thanked everyone for their attendance and contributions to the discussions.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on 18 November 2004.