Tribunals · City of Westminster · 2017 rating list

Victoria Station, Victoria Arcade, SW1E 5ND

Advertising rights (digital) Decided 1 June 2023 CHG100706377 Dentons UK and Middle East LLP - Gemma Louise Hunter-Barnes

OutcomeAllowedThe tribunal reduced the rateable value.
Original RV—
Ratepayer sought—
VO conceded first—
Tribunal decided—from 1 Apr 2017

Figures are as stated in the decision; a dash means the document does not state that figure. This decision covers 2 properties; the figures shown are for the first listed.

What was argued and what the tribunal found

Network Rail sought deletion of two advertising rights entries from the local rating list, contending they formed part of the railway hereditament shown in the Central List. The tribunal found that Network Rail retained paramount control of the advertising space through extensive powers to withdraw, obstruct, or temporarily take over the advertising for safety announcements and customer information, and that the arrangement with JCDecaux was a management concession, not a letting-out. Accordingly, the advertising rights were not separately rateable but formed part of the railway hereditament and should be assessed in the Central List only, making the local list entries duplicative.

Summary generated from the decision text and checked against it. The appellant was Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, represented.

Grounds argued

  • Relief or exemption · decisive
  • Validity of the proposal
Evidence
Expert report
Cases cited
R v St Pancras Assessment Committee; Holywell Union Assessors v Halkyn; John Laing & Sons v Kingswood Assessment Committee; Westminster City Council v Southern Railway Company; Peak (VO) v Henlys; Imperial Tobacco Company v Pierson; O'Brien v Secker (VO); Cardtronics Europe Ltd v Sykes (VO); Esso Petroleum Company v Walker (VO); Woolway (VO) v Mazars LLP; Ludgate House Ltd v Ricketts (VO)
Hearing
11 May 2023

Similar decisions

All decisions in City of Westminster ·

Is your own rateable value in line?

A free check compares a property with the assessments around it and says plainly whether there is anything worth pursuing.

Check a property

The tribunal’s decision in full

Download the PDF · Find it on valuationtribunal.gov.uk

Decision © Crown copyright, published by the Valuation Tribunal Service under the Open Government Licence v3.0 and reproduced unaltered. This site does not index the names of private individuals that appear in decisions. Information, not advice.