{"id":159426,"date":"2025-06-05T05:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T05:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/159426\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T05:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T05:44:12","slug":"new-disaster-power-used-for-first-time-in-manchester-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/159426\/","title":{"rendered":"New ‘disaster power’ used for first time in Manchester this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight households are subject to the new power<\/p>\n

05:56, 05 Jun 2025Updated 06:37, 05 Jun 2025<\/p>\n

Didsbury’ Fletcher Moss Park was drowned on New Year’s Day(Image: MEN Staff)<\/p>\n

A new \u2018disaster\u2019 power to stop flooded Mancunians double-paying council tax was used for the first time on Wednesday (June 4) \u2014 and councillors \u2018hope we never have to use it again\u2019.<\/p>\n

Town hall chiefs approved adopting a new \u2018discretionary\u2019 power to the victims of flooding in the city who have been forced out of their homes.<\/p>\n

Previously, people who had to temporarily move home because their original property was uninhabitable due to \u2018flooding or other disasters\u2019 had to pay council tax on their damaged dwelling and where they\u2019re living now.<\/p>\n

But the new power now means they only have to pay council tax on their temporary home \u2014 and it was used straight away for eight West Didsbury<\/a> households which were devastated by New Year\u2019s Day floods.<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people were affected when the River Mersey burst its banks<\/a> a few hours into 2025, and hundreds were evacuated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was unfair for residents to pay council tax for two properties,\u201d said Labour<\/a> West Didsbury councillor Debbie Hilal at a meeting where the power was adopted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am delighted this report has come forward to recommend council tax relief scheme for eight properties from January 1, 2025 until they are reoccupied and any payments made will be credited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debbie Hilal, right, is a Labour councillor in the area(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Fellow West Didsbury councillor Richard Kilpatrick, Lib Dem, added: \u201cI hope we do not have to use this ever again, but this is for the future and for any residents affected again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we do not have to use it but we know the impact of climate change and [flooding in Didsbury] has happened three times in four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coun Kilpatrick also said he hoped \u2018by changing the approach in Manchester, I think there’s a real opportunity to change things on a national level\u2019 as there is no law which says a council cannot double-charge those displaced by a natural disaster.<\/p>\n

One method to avoid the practice \u2018is to get an exemption and that needs to be a prohibition\u2019 Rabnawaz Akbar, Labour\u2019s executive councillor for finance explained, but he added \u2018it’s a very long winded process\u2019 with \u2018no guarantee you will get the prohibition order at the end\u2019.<\/p>\n

Richard Kilpatrick (centre) hopes the UK would follow Manchester’s lead(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Instead, Manchester council is using a power in the 1992 Local Government Finance Act that allow it to \u2018exempt properties affected by flooding or other disasters from council tax for an appropriate period, usually from when residents have had to vacate their homes to the date they are able to return\u2019, a report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere a resident, who has been required to move out of their home, occupies another property where they are liable to pay council tax, they need to make the appropriate council tax payments for that property,\u201d the report went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relief will only apply to the property they have had to vacate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupport needs to be given quickly, but only to properties assessed and determined to be affected by damage caused by flooding or other disasters will qualify for this relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scheme guidance along with details of how residents can apply for this discretionary council tax relief will be published on the council\u2019s website.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight households are subject to the new power 05:56, 05 Jun 2025Updated 06:37, 05 Jun 2025 Didsbury’ Fletcher…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,3041,393,4884,2465,8828,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-159426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-didsbury","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114629172650925839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}