British Land head of asset management for retail parks, Matt Reed, has told Retail Week more needs to be done to deal with business rates.
Reed said that the issues around business rates have been a source of frustration, despite a recent revaluation.
“Successive governments have dodged dealing with business rates,” he told Retail Week.
“While the Conservatives have slightly tweaked them in the last two years, and we’ve had a revaluation which has been useful, it hasn’t dealt with the fundamental issue of is it a fair tax and is it the right tax.”
He added that retail is one of the major employers in the country with many people starting their careers in the sector.
“To be able to create a retail sector that can freely grow as a key way of driving our economy forward is really important, and business rates are a fundamental burden on physical retail,” he said.
Reed joins the likes of Ikea chief executive Peter Jelkeby, Kingfisher boss Thierry Garnier, New West End Company and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in calling for an overhaul of business rates.
The Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto earlier this week, which detailed how they would replace the business rates system with a “commercial landowner levy”.
Labour also pledged to transform the business rates system during Keir Starmer’s recent visit to a brewery in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.
In addition to a business rates overhaul, Reed said more needs to be done around electric vehicle charging.
“We’re trying to [implement EV charging] quickly, but there isn’t enough capacity.
“We’re told there might not be capacity for two or three years, and that is a fundamental problem for trying to green the economy and there doesn’t seem to be a roadmap for sorting that out,” he said.
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