Businesses must see the benefits from the rates they pay in a world of 100% retention, the Local Government Association (LGA) has privately insisted to ministers.

In a letter to communities secretary Greg Clark from LGA chairman Lord Porter – sent in November and leaked to The MJ this week – Smith Square said it was ‘concerned' for businesses to ‘see some evidence that local income is supporting the success, development and growth of enterprise and the economy' when full retention is implemented.