Taxpayers slam 'ridiculous' business rates deal for West Ham on former Olympic statidum

Taxpayers have criticised a "ridiculous" deal which means West Ham United will pay just a fraction of the £2.3m annual business rates bill on its London Stadium home.

Owners E20 Stadium revealed the Hammers will only pay additional rates on the retail and office space in the 66,000-capacity ground after they secured the lease for just £2.5m a year in rent last year.

Costs for the rest of the arena will have to be covered by E20, a joint venture between publicly funded London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council.

They declined to reveal how much West Ham would contribute in business rates and claimed the terms are still under discussion.

But rent specialists CVS said the fee is likely to be far less than the £1.3m annual rates bill for West Ham's former home at The Boleyn Ground.

The TaxPayers' Alliance said the "deal of the century now looks even worse for taxpayers".

James Price, the group's campaign manager, said: "When other football stadiums are paying millions in business rates, it is ridiculous to expect taxpayers to pick up this tab for West Ham every single year, especially when considering the deal they got for the stadium in the first place.

"The whole relationship between West Ham and taxpayers needs to completely change."

The revelation comes days after mobile phone giant Vodafone pulled out of a £20m naming rights deal to sponsor West Ham's London Stadium.

It also follows just weeks after officials from HM Revenue and Customs dramatically raided the Premier League club's offices at the stadium as part of a wider investigation into allegations of tax evasion in football.

Dubbed by critics as the "deal of the century", West Ham's lease agreement has come under heavy fire while it has also been revealed the taxpayer will foot the bill for the costs of policing, stewarding, heating, maintenance of the pitch and even corner flags and nets.

Its deal to share the rates bill is also likely to fuel anger among rival clubs, many of whom are paying millions of pound in property rates each year.

The annual rates bill for the London Stadium was £2.1m in 2016/17 and surged to £2.3 million after the tax shake-up on April 1, according to CVS.

A spokesman for E20 said: "West Ham United does not own the stadium and only has full use of it on a certain number of days each year, for which they pay £2.5 million annually.

"In addition, they pay the business rates for the office space and other areas they occupy exclusively. They do so via a contribution to the overall rates bill."

Rivals clubs are also facing steep hikes in their rates bills, with new Premier League Champions Chelsea paying £2m this year in business rates for Stamford Bridge, while Arsenal will pay £3.3m in rates on the Emirates Stadium.

The £700m London Stadium has been dogged by negative headlines about its expense for almost a decade. Last year, London mayor Sadiq Khan ordered a review into the spiralling costs of converting it from an athletics arena into a multi-purpose venue with football at its heart.

A spokesman for West Ham United said: "West Ham United only use the stadium facilities on matchday so, as tenants, we pay for the share of rates on those matchdays.

"We also, as tenants with our own specific areas, are liable for rates on the club offices, shop and warehouse. We will be separately assessed on this by the Valuation Office and this will be backdated to when we first moved in."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.