Westminster City Council has hit out at plans to give the London mayor control over supplementary business rates in the capital. The council has called for the plan to be scrapped, as it could damage the economy and its current Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). While the power to raise supplementary business rates will rest with councils in the rest of the country, in London it has been given to Ken Livingstone to help pay for Crossrail. Leader of Westminster, Sir Simon Milton, said: ‘We see a real risk that the Crossrail funding arrangements could prove deeply unfair for those businesses involved in BIDs. ‘We are concerned about the potential impact it could have on Westminster's economy and the wider capital.'
