Selby district council have only been able to collect all of its business rates in one year since 1995 a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The council is still seeking to collect £5.5m this financial year and further outstanding money.

York Press report: 

MORE than £6.2 million of business rates are owed to Selby District Council, The Press can reveal.

Figures obtained by this newspaper show that, as of December 4, the council was still owed £337,887 from 2011, £150,452 from 2010, and almost £82,000 from 2009, while it was still waiting for payment of more than £5.5 million from 2012, before the end of the financial year.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the only year since 1995 that the council has collected all its business rates was 2004, but the council said work was continually ongoing to collect the unpaid debts.

You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.