Borders council unhappy with £380,000 HQ valuation

 EXCLUSIVE by DOUG COLLIE

Scottish Borders Council has lodged more than 20 valuation appeals and has appointed agents to challenge business rate assessments on its local authority properties, including the headquarters building in Newtown St Boswells.

According to a citation list for a hearing of the local Valuation Appeal Committee scheduled for November 18th the council together with other public authorities including Police Scotland, Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service, the Ministry of Defence, Scottish Water, and Borders College have submitted 116 separate appeals after receiving declarations from the regional assessor.

The list includes council offices, leisure centres, swimming pools, police stations, court buildings and even most of the sewage works scattered across the region.

In SBC's case the HQ office complex tops the valuations at £380,000 with Hawick's Teviotdale Leisure Centre on £280,000. Between them the 21 council properties which are the subject of appeals have rateable values of more than £1.8 million. 

The current rate poundage applied to non-domestic properties in Scotland stands at 49.8 pence in the pound with all money collected from business rates ending up in local government coffers. SBC has engaged chartered surveyors D M Hall in a bid to have their valuations reduced.

Council properties listed for the appeal hearing with their proposed valuations are: Outdoor Centre, Grantshouse £8,800; Swimming Pool, Duns £82,700; Swimming Pool, Eyemouth £97,500; Swimming Pool, Galashiels £97,200; Sports Centre, Galashiels £39,300; Bus Station, Galashiels £75,100.

Swimming Pool, Selkirk £71,000; Council HQ, Newtown St. Boswells £380,000; Outdoor Centre, Towford, Jedburgh £2,000; Offices Hawick High Street £100,000; Heritage Centre, Hawick £76,500; Community Centre, Hawick £65,000; Teviotdale Leisure Centre, Hawick £280,000.

ACF Centre, Jedburgh £4,150; Swimming Pool, Jedburgh £66,300; ACF Centre, Kelso £4,800; Swimming Pool. Kelso £72,300; Sports Centre, Peebles £130,000; ACF Centre, Peebles £5,700; Offices, Peebles £28,300; Swimming Pool, Peebles £78,000.

Avison Young, agents for Police Scotland, are involved in valuation appeals for the police stations at Eyemouth £12,400, Coldstream £9,000, Duns £23,700, Galashiels £64,600, Selkirk £16,400, Melrose £18,200, Lauder £8,300, Hawick £142,500, Jedburgh + office £21,250, Kelso £16,900, and Peebles £27,700.

Among other properties included for the November 18th hearing are AFC Centre, Eyemouth (Ministry of Defence) £11,500; Day Centre, Galashiels (Borders College) £35,500; University, Galashiels (Heriot-Watt) £132,500; College, Galashiels (Borders College) £704,000.

Territorial Army Centre, Galashiels (MOD) £47,600; ATC Centre, Galashiels (MOD) £14,000; Sheriff Court, Duns (Scottish Courts & Tribunal Service) £8,300; Sheriff Court, Selkirk £32,800; Crematorium, Melrose (Westerleigh Group Ltd) £44,000.

Office Tweedbank (Scottish Government) £59,700; Offices Tweedbank (Scottish Public Pensions Agency) £245,000; College Newtown St Boswells (Borders College) £27,300; Investigation Centre, Greycrook, St Boswells (Scottish Agricultural College) £37,400.

College, Hawick (Borders College) £67,400; Sheriff Court, Jedburgh (Scottish Courts & Tribunal Service) £43,000; Day Centre, Innerleithen (NHS Borders) £12,900.