Rates shock

The figures, released by the Minister for Regional Development, show the amount of debt incurred by businesses in Limavady in the last year. In 12 months 215 retail and commercial properties throughout the Derry City Council area totalled up debt bill of 177,464.04. Limavady's commercial sector debt sits just 12,384.61 behind that at 165,079.43. Meanwhile, Land and Property Services has revealed that businesses in the borough have also accumulated a debt of 1 million in unpaid rates. Domestic ratepayers have a bill of 800,000 in debt at the end of 2009/10. In the first 3 months of the 2010/11 year this has reduced to 1.5million with a breakdown of 743k domestic and 838k non domestic. Limavady UUP Alderman Jack Rankin says he fears the figure could go up by the beginning of next year.

"That figure is a bit concerning especially considering that our rate had to unfortunately go up slightly this year.

"This was in unusual circumstances which hit us before we struck the new rate, but with the economic downturn I can see more people and

businesses struggling."