Bradford property and business chiefs are backing the latest efforts to press the Government to re-instate rate relief for empty commercial property.

Andrew Mason, chairman of the Bradford Property Forum, said ministers had been mistaken in believing axing the rate relief would generate high levels of revenue.

Mr Mason, managing director of Shipley-based Newmason Properties, said: “I don’t know which planet the Government is on. It withdrew rate relief believing it would be the goose that laid the golden egg and generate £1 billion of extra revenue by forcing landlords to either find tenants or pay rates on empty premises.

“I believe it has actually brought in only £30 million for the Treasury.

“No landlord in their right mind is going to deliberately keep a property empty but the current market conditions make it unavoidable. Rents have been slashed in a bid to find tenants and stimulate activity.

“I know of one extreme case where a property owner unable to fund tenants has demolished a building to avoid paying empty property rates. That’s the kind of negative impact this tax has had.

“The Government is on a losing wicket over this issue and should realise it has had the opposite impact to the one it intended and reverse the policy. This would restore the status quo and reduce costs and help get the industry back on its feet as the economy recovers.”

Mr Mason, who was one of those invited to question Gordon Brown during the Prime Minister’s visit to Bradford yesterday, hoped that moves by bodies including the Business Centre Association – which is lobbying MPs from all parties on the empty rates issue next week – would win the day.

At a House of Commons reception next Wednesday the BVA will detail the impact the tax has had on the commercial property and small businesses since the legislation was introduced last year.

It said the empty property rates legislation was a tax on hardship and has had a negative impact on regeneration and halted the building of many speculative developments.

Pressure for a re-think has also been applied by chambers of commerce and Harold Robinson, president of the Bradford Chamber also welcomed the lobbying moves.

He said: “We welcome moves to get the Government to re-think this policy. The empty property rates legislation has been one of the most ill-timed changes to property tax in the last decade and has been damaging to the sector and the economy.

“Bradford Chamber, along with our colleagues across the UK, will continue to press for a reversal of the decision to remove rate relief on empty properties.”