HUNDREDS of businesses in East Hampshire are set to receive a discount on their business rates under a new East Hampshire District Council scheme.

Those businesses which experienced the largest increases in their rates this year will get a 30-per-cent rebate on the difference.

More than 300 businesses across the district will benefit from the scheme, which is to go before the district council’s cabinet today, Thursday.

Ferris Cowper, the council’s deputy leader and finance-portfolio holder, said the funding would be a welcome boost to the district’s businesses.

“When the Government reviewed rates this year, some businesses saw their monthly bills go up,” he said.

“Those businesses facing the biggest increases will get money knocked off their bill.

“East Hampshire District Council is one of the most business-friendly councils in the country and this scheme is another example of that.”

Earlier in 2017, the Government re-assessed rateable values for the first time in seven years. It then set aside £300million to offer as rate relief for businesses across the UK.

East Hampshire District Council has been allocated £723,000 for what is called the Local Discretionary Relief Scheme. The money will be spread over four years, with most of the funds available in the first year of the scheme and reducing yearly after that.

The council was charged with devising a system to distribute the funding among the businesses.

Businesses whose rates have gone up by more than £600 a year will receive 30 per cent off the increase.

They will be contacted directly by EHDC. This business-friendly ethos will go hand in hand with schemes in Whitehill and Bordon, such as its Enterprise Zone status.

Referred to as EZ³ - the London and South Innovation Valley, the digitally-focused Enterprise Zone comprises three sites: TechForest in Whitehill and Bordon (at the old Louisburg Barracks), Basing View in Basingstoke and Longcross Park near Chertsey.

The scheme is said, by the LEP, to pave the way for “millions of pounds of private investment”.

One of the biggest draws is that businesses which move to the Enterprise Zone by March 31, 2022, will not have to pay any business rates for five years - which could be worth about £275,000 to a company.

Business rates generated in the Enterprise Zone will also be retained in the area by the LEP, which said this will provide an investment fund over the next 25 years that will “support future economic growth across the Enterprise Zone and the wider LEP area”.

The LEP will work in partnership with local authorities, developers and stakeholders to invest the retained rates, estimated to be in the region of £178m (over 25 years), in ways which, it said, would “increase prosperity and create further development opportunities” - in a sense, helping the economy grow exponentially. The funding will be used to invest in physical infrastructure and “place-making projects”, the LEP said.

These, according to the LEP, will ensure the Enterprise M3 area “remains globally competitive” with “strong connectivity” and “world-class businesses and skills”.