South Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns has criticised the Welsh Assembly Government for a lack of transparency about the levels of business rate increases across Wales.
Mrs Burns has been trying to find out from officials the number of communities which have seen an increase of more than 100 per cent.
“I know that these businesses are in pockets around Wales,” she told the Senedd. “But I could not get the information. First, the Government came back and said it did not have it. “Then the Members Research Service said that the information might exist but that it did not have access to the database and that we would have to get it from the Valuation Office.
“I went to the Valuation Office, which said that the Welsh Assembly Government had all of the information, cut, sliced, diced and packaged in every which way.”
Mrs Burns said that if she could get the information and discover which towns – such as Narberth— have seen increases of up to 300 per cent then help could be tailor-made for them with funds accessed through the underused business support grant scheme.
