SUGAR tax stories may be dominating the post-Budget discussion but there were a number of other key announcements which could have far more impact on Swindon.

While the town was not mentioned by name in the Chancellor’s speech, the impact of the changes he announced will certainly be felt by residents and businesses here.

A headline announcement saw business rate relief more than double – with the threshold raised from £6,000 to £15,000, more than 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all from next year.

The move was welcomed by the Swindon Chamber of Commerce, a spokesperson said: “Businesses will cheer measures to cut the burden of business rates, which hundreds of thousands of firms have to pay before they even turn over a single pound – this is good news in particular for small businesses.”

While a cut in rates may ease the burden on the business community, it risks leaving a significant hole in the ever-strained finances of Swindon Council.

Just under a quarter of their annual £137 million budget comes from a share of the same business rates which are now being cut.

Another quarter of the budget, some £28.2 million, comes from central government grants which are also set to disappear.

On Wednesday it was announced that by 2020, councils will be expected to be financially self-sufficient.

Cllr Russell Holland, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “At this stage it’s still early days, we will have to wait to see what the wider business rate changes will be.

“Ultimately councils becoming self-funded will mean out services will be more sustainable but there will have to be fundamental changes to the way those services are provided over the next four years.

“That much is inevitable.”

Commentators have accused George Osbourne of using his headline sugar tax announcement to divert attention from more troubling announcements, saying it won’t actually have the positive health impacts that he claimed.

Helen Auburn, a nutritional therapist from Old Town, is passionate about the anti-sugar cause but does not believe the new tax will deter consumers.

“I think it’s a waste of time, slightly higher prices won’t deter people from drinking soft drinks, just as cigarette taxes didn’t stop anyone smoking,” she said.

“It is useless. As a nation we are in the grip of a sugar addiction so higher prices won’t stop that.”

Helen said she was cynical about George Osborne’s motives for introducing the tax.

“The government will be benefitting from these higher taxes, not the general public who will continue to buy.

“I don’t think it is fair on the public. Sugar shouldn’t be allowed in drinks at all, the government should be looking into healthier alternatives to sugar.”

Helen also wants to see sugar levels reduced in savoury foods.

“Sugar and salt are killing people, as a nation we are getting fatter. More awareness needs to be raised about the amount of hidden sugars in savoury foods as well as sugary drinks,” she added.