The Plymouth Brethren Church was granted a rates exemption at the Shire of Northam Council Meeting on Wednesday, September 20.
An application was received by the Shire on July 13, 2017 from the trustee for the Northam City Room Gospel Trust, requesting a rate exemption as a place of worship, for the properties at 55 and 77 East Street, Northam.
The Shire officers recommended council approve the application because it met the criteria required by the Local Government Act 1995.
The act states that land used or held exclusively by a religious body as a place of public worship or in relation to that worship can be exempt from paying rates.
During the meeting, Cr Terry Little said the church should still have to pay land rates. “It is not 1320 now, it is 2017. It is about time the world changed,” he said. “Churches used to run the place once upon a time but now they don’t, I believe.”
Cr Beresford also spoke against religious institutions being granted exemptions. “We have very little chance of overturning it,” he said. “It is a terrible situation and it costs towns an awful lot of money to support organisations that should be paying rates.”
The exemption was passed 9-1, with Cr Julie Williams opposing the move.
The 1.63m hectares of land on 55 East Street was sold to Paul Robert Sharpe, Andrew William Draffin, Andrew Peter Dowell, Jeremy Kyle Davies and James Richard Bagshaw on June 1, 2016 for $410,000.
The same owners bought 1.46h of land on 77 East Street for $250,000 about two weeks later.
The development is currently underway and taking shape, with the steelwork up and roof in place.
According to the development website, the carpark has been designed to cater for 900 people that will be attending the church for an event every two to three years.
Every fortnight an additional Sunday service will host 300 people. The website states the church hopes to complete the project by the end of this year.
