Half a million pounds unpaid in latest Blackpool Council business rates write off

Fashion chain the Arcadia Group and a dessert restaurant are listed among 19 organisations owing more than £500,000 in unpaid business rates to Blackpool Council.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The debt – which all dates back to pre-Covid times before April last year – has now been written off by town hall finance chiefs due to there being no prospect of recouping it.

A total of £557,418 has gone unpaid by organisations and individuals including shops, hotels, cafes, a warehouse and an amusement arcade.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The single biggest debt is £176,442 owed by Office Task Ltd for office premises, followed by the Arcadia Group which owed just over £61,000.

Town hall chiefs have written off unpaid business ratesTown hall chiefs have written off unpaid business rates
Town hall chiefs have written off unpaid business rates

Portland and Barfield, which operates cafe premises, owed £55,000, while Grand Coastal Hotels owed £29,000, Farah Enterprises (also a hotel operator) owed £23,000 and S&B Sofas and Furnishings owed £21,000.

Also listed is Drizzy’s Desserts Ltd, which took over the former Hellfire bar on the Promenade, but closed owing £14,000 in business rates.

Businesses are described as either being in insolvency, there being no prospect of recovering the money, or having ‘gone away’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Provision for bad debt is made by the council as part of its business rate collection regime.

This year’s total is less than the £700,000 written off by the council last year.

A report detailing the debt says: “Six ratepayers had amounts totalling £178,748.81 which could not be collected due to bankruptcy/insolvency.

“Five ratepayers absconded leaving debts of £70,142.25 and we have been unable to trace their whereabouts.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Eight ratepayers had amounts totalling £308,527.89 of which there is no prospect of recovery.

“Seven companies have been dissolved at companies’ house and the remaining company the council cannot pursue due to the director being taken to court and facing prison.”

The council has also written off nearly £11,000 owed in social care payments, and nearly £29,000 in overpayments of housing benefit.

* Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here

Related topics: