Arranged by the two West Lindsey District Council ward members, Roy Schofield and Alan Caine. The total attendance was 34. Apologies were received from Mr Andrew Dollery (Bates & Mountain) and Mike Grant and his wife (Caistor Post Office).

Alan Caine chaired the meeting and welcomed everyone, introduced the speakers, thanked people for attending and ran through the agenda for the evening. He also thanked Carol for taking notes of the meetings.

The first presentation was from Paul Hendry from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) which is part of the Inland Revenue and responsible for the valuation and revaluation of commercial premises. Paul welcomed the opportunity to explain business rates to those assembled and asked whether anyone present was in business and paying rates. A number of the audience confirmed this and then Paul gave a brief overview of the presentation objectives.

The VOA became a Government Agency in 1991 and Paul belongs to the Sheffield group. There are approximately 4,000 staff in the country. Half of which are admin and half qualified valuers. He explained how rates are assessed, collected and distributed. The VOA is an independent service with a national network of offices. There are 24 groups and 83 local offices. The local offices for this area are Sheffield, Hull, Lincoln and Grimsby.

The main categories for valuation are:

• Land Services & Taxation: dealing with Inheritance tax, Capital Gains Tax and valuing properties for any public body, eg town or district councils, NHS and other government departments.
• Council Tax: domestic banding.
• Non-domestic rate: business rates – the VOA produces what is known as a rating list. There are a few exceptions which are not liable for business rates, such as agricultural land and churches.

The VOA maintains the rating list. The rates bill is NOT the rateable value. The bill is the product of the rateable value. A multiplier is used in the equation and is set by the Government. The UBR this year is 41.6p in the £ (48.9p in the £ in 1999). The rating list can be seen in various locations – at the local valuation office (for our area this is Lincoln), the billing office, or all the information can be seen on their website at www.voa.gov.uk

In effect the rateable value is the rental value (for a 1 year period), eg how much rent could you reasonably expect to get. The current list for Caistor was put together on 1/4/98. Current rents can go up or down or stay the same. There is a Transitional scheme in place to protect against rate rises if these affect your business. This scheme limits the amount a rates bill can rise (or conversely be reduced). Appeals can be made if a bill is in dispute, and may be taken to a tribunal.

Listed buildings do not pay rates if the property is empty.

The second speaker was Karen Derry from the Lincolnshire Rural Transport Partnership Scheme with information on grant assistance for transport in rural England. Their objective is to assist in rural areas by developing additional transport services to those which already exist. 75% of their funding is from the Countryside Agency and 25% from LCC, West Lindsey DC, North Kesteven DC, East Lindsey DC, Lincs Health Authority and Translinc.

There are currently two schemes:-

1. Projects up to £1,000.
2. Projects over £10,000.

They have £250,000 over a 3-year period for northern Lincolnshire (with a possible extension to 4 years – the White Paper) and will fund up to 75% of a total project. 25% must be funded from external sources but can include ‘in kind’ contributions.

Some examples of how they can help are:

• Developing new services
• Improved co-ordination of services
• Addressing journeys to work
• Improving transport infrastructure
• Feasibility studies/needs analysis
• Better and targeted information provision
• Staff/volunteer training and development

The third speaker was Paul Holley, Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Officer for the Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) who talked about ways to benefit from having the Wolds on our doorstep and how we needed to attract new people into town but in a controlled way. There are 41 areas of outstanding natural beauty in England and Wales and the Lincolnshire Wolds is the only one which was not decided by someone in Government, but by local people who valued it and fought for it to be included. This is a marketable asset if properly managed.

Paul gave some very interesting statistics which had been genuinely researched:-

• 32% of business turnover is generated by visitors - in areas of natural beauty this rises to 42%.
• One third of businesses state that they would expand if there were a small increase in business
• 81% of visitors come from within Lincolnshire

Funding may be available for signage, leaflets, lay-by improvements. Paul would like to speak with the Town Council and other interested parties and would really like to help. The strategic aim is managing visitors to the Wolds.

Roy Schofield provided an update on the Caistor Hospital Site as he had received an email from the current owners PPH (Propan Homes) of Sevenoakes in Kent indicating that they had acquired the Hospital site and will be restoring some of the existing buildings and constructing some 35 superbly specified new homes in the grounds. They indicated that they expect it to be the most prestigious and exiting new homes development in the Caistor area over the coming years. PPH indicated that they had created a link to the www.caistor.net website and requested a link to their website www.pphweb.com/caistor/index.htm

Roy then went on to display overhead slides which summarised the objectives of the Gainsborough Trust and how it achieved thwm. Copies of the 6 slides are attached as follow:-

Slide No.

1. Caistor Development Trust - Objective.
2. Caistor Development Trust – How will it do this?
3. Composition of the Gainsborough Trust.
4. Funding Agencies.

Roy went on to say that he found it difficult to decide the best way to establish the composition of the Caistor Development Trust Board and had concluded that a working group should be set up which would consider the board composition and any changes necessary to the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

5. Composition of the Caistor Development Trust Board.

Those present were asked to put forward ideas about representation from organisations and businesses in the town.

6. Purpose of the Meetings.

Was arranged for Monday 8^th January 2001, 7 pm in the Arts Centre. Tea & Coffee would be provided after the meeting.

The meeting closed at 9 pm and much discussion took place over Tea and Coffee.

1. Cliff Ayre – Regional Manager of Midland Bank.
2. Richard Costall – Managing Director of Universal Construction Services and Managing Director of Burton Waters (Waterside development on the outskirts of Lincoln).
3. Brian Dalby – Senior Partner in Richards Accountants.
4. Mike Galey – Company Secretary for Eminox.
5. Steve Gelder – Managing Director of Gelder Construction.

may include: