Coleraine Borough Chamber has warned Coleraine Borough Council that any increase in rates could result in jobs being lost.

The Chamber made the claim as representatives handed the following letter on behalf of members to Council headquarters on Friday 8th January.

The letter said for many Chamber members, covering almost every commercial and industrial sector, they are now entering their third year of extremely difficult trading conditions, in most cases unprecedented. This has meant significant sales’ declines, in some cases by as much as 50%. What business that is available is often being tendered for at cost, or very low margins to try and keep some kind of revenue coming through.

At the same time cost pressures have continued to increase. Significant costs such as utilities and rates have risen at levels significantly above inflation. This double whammy has meant that survival has only been possible by aggressively attacking any costs that can be cut.

This root and branch attack on costs has meant very difficult decisions, including redundancy, pay cuts, pay freezes, capital expenditure freezes, marketing expenditure cuts and pension contributions being stopped altogether, whilst still maintaining our standards of quality and service to our customers.

Last year the Assembly recognised the economic challenges that the region was facing and held the rates at the same level in 2009 as in the previous year. At a district level Coleraine Borough Council increased rates by 5.97% in 2009 and the aggregate increase over the last 3 years has been has 17.7%.

At the same time Chamber members have had to deal with similar levels of increased legislation, red tape and associated costs that have been given as reasons for an increasing district rate. Considering that this is now the third year of declining revenues for many Chamber members it would be completely wrong to assume that business can shoulder the burden of an increase in rates again this year. It can’t and any increase in rates is likely to be at the expense of further jobs.

The current economic conditions look set to continue for a number of years.  With the added challenge of higher taxation and public sector cuts that will impact Northern Ireland more than any other region, it is imperative that Coleraine Borough Council keeps its costs under control. In this new era the future prosperity for the Borough and its residents will increasingly be dependant on a vibrant private sector. It is therefore critical that the extreme pressures that businesses are facing are recognised.

Business and residents still require a service, but it needs to be an affordable service, whilst support for activities that will lead to wealth creation for the Borough in the future will become even more important. In the current climate failure to do so will mean a heavy price for individual residents of the Borough and business’s alike.