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Unfairness revealed |
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Using satellite technology, we are able to show you how the rain tax penalises charities at the expense of big business. Generally, the bigger the area, the more you pay. Have a look at the satellite images below. It is easy to see what band different organisations would be charged. Below you will also find United Utilities proposed banding charges based on these surface areas. |
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Info box
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info@dontdrainus.orgHotline 0709 2847134 |
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Rolls Royce showroom and Knutsford Parish Church |
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Harvey Nichols and Manchester Cathedral |
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Manchester Cathedral pays more |
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Local store pays less |
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Rolls Royce Showroom pays less |
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Knutsford Parish Church pays more |
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United Utilities and Liverpool Cathedral |
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Liverpool Cathedral expected to pay over £70,000 |
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United Utilities HQ, earns billions pays less than... |
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Salford Boys Club pays more |
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Vivienne Westwood pays less |
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Salford Boys Club and Vivienne Westwood |
Bad maths and bands usedUnited Utilities have a linear banded arrangement where charges are directly proportional to drained area. For example, a doubling of area produces twice the surface water charge. This simplistic approach leads to overcharging. An area based approach needs careful banding since many factors other than area influence surface water drainage costs. For example, pipe size also affects costs. It can be shown that pipe diameter is related to the drained area raised to the power 0.4, all other things being equal. Thus, taking pipe size into account as well as area, a property for example with twice the paved area of another might be expected to pay about a third more (20.4 – 1) for surface water, rather than double if based solely on area considerations. Without a correction factor as described, it would particularly penalise Churches and other organisations with relatively large paved areas. Bands proposed by United Utilities |
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Charging Band |
Chargeable Area (m2) |
Surface Water (£) |
Highway Drainage (£) |
Surface Water and Highway Drainage (£) |
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1 |
0-124m2 |
49 |
49 |
98 |
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2 |
125-299m2 |
122 |
122 |
244 |
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3 |
300-649m2 |
273 |
272 |
545 |
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4 |
650-1,499m2 |
617 |
616 |
1,233 |
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5 |
1,500-2,999m2 |
1,290 |
1,290 |
2,580 |
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6 |
3,000-6,999m2 |
2,868 |
2,867 |
5,735 |
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7 |
7,000-11,999m2 |
5,448 |
5,448 |
10,896 |
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8 |
12,000-17,999m2 |
8,603 |
8,602 |
17,205 |
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9 |
18,000-24,999m2 |
12,330 |
12,330 |
24,660 |
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10 |
25,000-49,999m2 |
21,506 |
21,506 |
43,012 |
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11 |
50,000-74,999m2 |
35,843 |
35,843 |
71,686 |
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12 |
75,000-99,999m2 |
50,181 |
50,180 |
100,361 |
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13 |
100,000-124,999m2 |
64,518 |
64,518 |
129,036 |
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14 |
125,000-149,999m2 |
78,856 |
78,855 |
157,711 |
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15 |
150,000m2 and above |
81,447 |
81,446 |
162,893 |