Wyke Farms MD Rich Clothier said the rate hike was ruining investor confidence in AD plants
Wyke Farms has joined more than 100 anaerobic digester operators in a group litigation against the government’s Valuation Office Agency for imposing “punitive” rate rises on the sector.
The West Country-based cheesemaker said a revaluation of rates payable by renewable energy operators by the VOA in February had seen its AD plant’s rateable value rise by 91% year on year to £535k.
After taking into account a 51.2p in the pound discount via the VOA’s non-domestic rate multiplier, Wyke’s AD plant rate bill would rise from £140k to £265k this year, said rating expert and litigation organiser Chris Handel.
Robin Swann, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (Image: GETTY)
Shane Brennan, the lobby group’s chief executive, said UK exporters “continue to face a hard border with all its costs and uncertainties and see their equivalents continuing to benefit from de-facto unfettered access to their domestic market.”
Speaking of the decision to extend the grace period, he added: “It’s not clear how this action will give the EU an incentive to be more willing to discuss ways to reduce the burdens on UK exporters.”
In a statement issued earlier this week, Lord David Frost, the UK’s Brexit negotiator and now a member of the Cabinet, said: “As a sovereign trading nation outside the EU, we have freedom to take decisions in our national interest – and in the interest of our businesses.
Wyke Farms reports record turnover thegrocer.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thegrocer.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Date: 27 May 2021
Sonder
★★★★
This an intriguing album from a West Country-based duo with Riley playing vibraphone and Garden playing the violin supported by bassist Steve Toddler. Entirely instrumental the 12 tracks are all original compositions with a strong jazz influence.
What makes the album unusual is that each track has a title in different languages but with a meaning explained. The title track is defined as the realisation that each passerby is living a life as rich and complex as your own.
This thematic thread runs throughout with the first track Vellichor celebrating the strange wistfulness of bookshops while the Russian title Toska expresses the longing for the need to escape but lacking the energy to do so.It is almost as though words are unnecessary and the instruments just explain the meaning to the listener.