The question has been asked many times - What do we have to do to get the council to listen to the concerns of local residents? Readers will see from other postings that it is within the power of the local authority to address some of traffic problems we face, but will also see that it is as a direct result of the actions of council departments that these problems have come about! As ratepayers we are all paying for a service that we do not receive, a service that is contributing to the devaluation of our property and to a deterioration of our 'quality of life'.
For those of you that consider that last part to be too strong a claim, consider this - the current council tax bands are based upon the amount that a property might have fetched if it had been sold on the open market on 1st April 1991. It is an indisputable fact that 'traffic' impacts upon property values, the worse the traffic, the less appealing your property becomes, the less you property is worth - this is devaluation. The traffic situation has worsened significantly over the last 8 years, let alone the 18 years since 1991, and it is extremely probable that a revaluation today would put some properties in a lower council tax band. In comparative terms your property is losing value, yet you are expected to still pay the same rates - something not right there.
The good news is that the Valuation Office acknowledges that changes happen, and there are circumstances where it is in order to ask for a revaluation assessment, the list of circumstances can be found by clicking here but the section relevant to our case is:
3. If there has been physical changes in your area which could affect the value of your property.
This includes roads, and developments.
A hundred or so applications to the Valuation Office might just make the 'powers that be' sit up and take notice. Lower rateable values means loss of revenue and the probability of refunds. Money talks. Perhaps then they might start to take our claims seriously?
