Collecting business rates from Scout groups “will cause more ill feeling than it will benefit the public purse”.

That is the view of Cllr Hilary McGuill, who will put forward a notice of motion to Flintshire Council on Tuesday hoping to reverse the council’s “very, very wrong” decision to withdraw its financial support that covered 20 per cent of business rates for the youth organisations.

As revealed in the Leader last May, more than a dozen Scout groups across the county have been hit with bills of hundreds of pounds after the local authority ended its assistance to Scout groups.

The other 80 per cent is covered by the Welsh Government.

An online petition calling for the decision to be reversed was signed by more than 10,000 people, including Chief Scout and TV personality Bear Grylls while Mark Isherwood, North Wales Conservative Assembly Member, raised the matter in the Senedd.

Cllr McGuill, deputy leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group and member for Argoed, will put forward the following notice of motion at the full meeting of Flintshire Council on Tuesday.

“We call upon Flintshire Council to reconsider reinstating 100 per cent business rate relief on scout huts for Scout organisations in Flintshire who own and manage their Scout headquarters,” she states.

Cllr McGuill told the Leader she hoped councillors would support a decision to overturn the charge.

She said: “I just think that the decision Flintshire Council took was wrong.

“It was very, very wrong. The people who run Scout groups are volunteers who do it because they want children to enjoy their childhood and become good citizens.

“It's phenomenal how many children in the Scouts go on to do voluntary work.

“To me, it’s a very small amount of money and it will cause more ill-feeling than it will benefit the public purse.

“I hope my fellow councillors will feel the same way and Flintshire Council will overturn this.”

Earlier this month, Clare Budden, Flintshire Council chief officer, community and enterprise, set out the authority's position.

She said: “Business rates levels are set by Welsh Government and collected by local authorities on their behalf. National funding is provided to support local charities and voluntary groups to cover 80 per cent of their business rates.

“In the past, the remaining 20 per cent has been covered by their respective local authority from their own budget. Given the severe financial pressures local authorities are facing, it is no longer possible to provide the discretionary 20 per cent from local budgets.

“The council made a decision to withdraw the support for 2017-18 financial year.

“Early in 2017, the council contacted organisations expected to make a 20 per cent rate contribution from April and signposted charities and voluntary groups to apply for Hardship Rate Relief if there was genuine financial hardship.

“Given that the setting of business rates is a government responsibility, then petitioners should be directing their concerns to Welsh Government to make their case for a reform of the business rate relief system.

“The council would support a national debate where the concerns of the Scout movement and other voluntary organisations can be heard.”

The notice of motion will be debated on Tuesday at County Hall, Mold.