HOW'S THE GLAZING COMING ON?

摘要

Roy Billingham has managed Billingham & Kite, the 50-year-old contractor set up by his father, through four recessions so far. The Dudley-based businessman thought he'd seen everything a downturn could throw at him - but then he came up against Bromsgrove council.rnAlready struggling to find enough work going to keep his 25 employees in a job, last autumn Billingham received notice that, within six months, he was to be charged council tax on a property that the council judged would be "complete", despite the fact that it lacked a bathroom, kitchen, hot water and electricity. Similar notices followed on other projects, piling costs of £2,000 a month onto the five properties he is working on.rn"I've never seen it before," he says. "As soon as you screw on the front door of a property, you get a notice from the council. It's like Big Brother.