NEWPORT City Council is set to bring in its own business rates relief scheme this week to try and reverse decline on the high street.

Supporting retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in the city centre is a "priority", a council report says, because those sectors were "particularly badly affected" by coronavirus-related disruption over the past two years.

In a scheme likely worth up to £900,000, depending on how many businesses the council makes eligible, the new plan also addresses "the need to improve the look of the town centre and by encouraging empty shops back into use".

The report notes the effects of the pandemic have been "particularly acute" on city-centre traders, but there are also other reasons for the area's decline.

"Over time" the departure or demise of businesses, including Friars Walks' flagship Debenhams store, have led to "a number of vacant properties" including some "in need of repair or modernisation".

The report says business rates in the city centre are "comparatively high", partly due to the "outmoded design" of some premises that no longer require large floorspace for stock and display.

While physical shops have to pay business rates, online premises do not necessarily have to bear the same costs, and the report says the move to internet shopping - which was "accelerated" during the pandemic, has added to pressures on retail and hospitality.

Most jobs lost in Newport in 2020 were in those sectors, research shows, as were the majority of workers placed on furlough.

The Welsh Government has launched a national rates relief scheme for 2022/23 that will attempt to ease the burden on traders in retail, leisure and hospitality.

But Newport City Council said that "whilst this is welcomed and will provide much needed rate relief... it is recognised that this scheme alone will not be sufficient to address the problems faced by the Newport city centre".

Targeted rates relief in those same sectors would cost the council between £700,000 and £900,000 if it pursues its own local scheme for Newport, the report estimates. This would then operate alongside the Welsh Government's rates relief plan.

The plan is expected the rates relief scheme to be effective from April 1.

Matthew Evans, leader of the Welsh Conservative party in Newport, said: "I am in favour in principal with the rate relief.

"Newport’s hospitality sector has been hit particularly hard and the additional Covid restrictions in Wales clearly impacted while people were able to pop across the border to England.

"The city centre rates are too high and one of the reasons we have so many empty shops, so this will help and is to be welcomed, but it is not a magic bullet."

The decision to bring in the scheme was made before the start of the 'purdah' period ahead of May's local government election - which began on Monday, March 28 - in which no major decisions can be made.

Jane Mudd, Labour's leader of Newport Council, said: "The Newport City Centre Local Rate Relief Scheme is completely new, and unique to the City Centre.  

"The introduction of the scheme represents a significant investment and focus on our businesses in the city centre and supports economic recovery post pandemic.

"The national Welsh Government funded scheme was welcomed by our local businesses and will provide much needed rate relief to those in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, but we wanted to introduce additional support for our city centre businesses.

"Our innovative scheme is designed to assist existing businesses to remain viable post-covid and to incentivise new businesses to open in empty city centre retail units. It builds on the national scheme.

"Feedback from our business community has been very positive. 

"Newport is not alone in having a number of empty shops in the city centre, the longer these units remain empty, the harder they are to let.

"It is also important that our existing viable businesses are supported especially after the economic shock of the pandemic.

"The Newport City Centre Local Rate Relief Scheme will see eligible businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sector receive 25 per cent of the full rates payable in the form of a reduction on their rate bill.

"Those businesses that are eligible to receive the Welsh Government relief will also receive the Newport City Centre Local Rate Relief, further reducing their bill, and in most cases, they will only have 25 per cent of the rates to pay in 2022-23.

"The Newport scheme will run for a second year and eligible businesses will then, assuming no further national scheme is in place, have 25 per cent business rate relief.

"We anticipate that this Newport City Centre Rate Relief will make the centre of Newport a more attractive proposition to new businesses, whilst also assisting existing businesses to overcome the covid pandemic and remain viable. Therefore supporting economic recovery going forward.

"We have also increased our City of Newport Business grant funding to complement this scheme as that funding supports both business start ups and expansion. Both of these schemes form part of our package of support for city centre businesses."

Cllr Carmel Townsend, who leads the Liberal Democrats on Newport City Council, said: “This is welcome news, and on top of the market development should be a positive step forwards. But we need more to be done.

"We need a relentless focus on footfall, moving council services into the city centre so more people are there during the day. We also need to think creatively, and should be reallocating the payments wasted to pay for empty Friars Walk properties to support start ups and independent businesses.”