Aberdeen City Council sets aside £4.2m for business rates relief

A total of £4.2m is to be set aside by Aberdeen City Council for business rates relief.

It comes after a failed bid by the previous administration to ask the Scottish government for match-funding.

The new funding was pushed through by Conservative councillors and was approved without a vote by the finance committee on Thursday evening.

A total of 167 Aberdeen businesses have received close to £2m from a Scottish government rates relief scheme.

• Why are business rates causing concern?

• Business rates - what do they pay?

Rateable values are changing for the first time since 2010 after a national revaluation by The Scottish Assessors' Association.

Businesses in the north east have complained that they are being hit particularly hard because the valuations predated the slump in the price of oil which had an impact on the local economy.