Leisure Opportunities - Budget 2012 'a missed opportunity' for UK hospitality/tourism, says British Hospitality Association

Leisure Opportunities - Budget 2012 'a missed opportunity' for UK hospitality/tourism, says British Hospitality Association

The Tourism Alliance has also published some notes on the 2012 Budget highlighting a number of key issues:

• The reform of taxation on Gaming Machines
• An acknowledgement (read “u-turn”) that there needs to be aviation expansion in the South East.
• VAT being applied to alterations to Listed Buildings and Static Holiday Caravans

The Budget initiatives with Tourism Implications include:

Corporation Tax

• From April 2013 the Government will introduce a new cash basis for calculating tax for small unincorporated businesses. The Government will consult shortly after Budget on the details of the scheme including on extending eligibility to businesses with turnover up to the VAT registration threshold of £77,000.
• Corporation Tax to be cut a further 1% in April to 24% (from 26% currently). The plan is to reduce it to 23% in 2013 and 22% by 2014

Gambling

• New duty of Gaming Machines with a standard rate of 20% and a lower rate for low-prize machines of 5% of net takings.
• The Government will move to a tax regime that ensures operators anywhere in the world pay gambling duties on gross profits generated from customers based in the UK.

VAT

• From 1 October 2012, VAT will be extended to reduce anomalies, including alterations to listed buildings (to align with the existing VAT treatment of repairs).
• The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will extend its ‘listed places of worship’ grant scheme in light of the changes to VAT on alterations to listed buildings.
• From 1 October 2012, VAT will be extended to close loopholes, including by applying static holiday caravans (to bring in line with mobile caravans).From 1 April 2012 the VAT registration threshold will be increased from £73,000 to £77,000 and the deregistration threshold from £71,000 to £75,000

Aviation

• Acknowledgement that the UK needs to increase aviation capacity, especially in the South East
• APD rates for 2013-14 will rise by the RPI from 1 April 2013

Transport

• Extend electrification of the Transpennine route between Manchester and Sheffield. Further improvements to the lines between Manchester and Preston, and Manchester and Blackpool.
• Implementation of many of Alan Cook’s recommendations for the roads, including developing a national roads strategy and setting a renewed focus on the level of performance expected from the Highways Agency.26 The Government will also consider whether to go further and will carry out a feasibility study into new ownership and financing models for the national road network, learning lessons from the water industry, to report on progress by Autumn Statement 2012

Technology

• Mobile coverage to 60,000 rural homes and along at least ten key roads by 2015
• Consideration of whether direct intervention is required to improve mobile coverage for rail passengers.

Planning

• Government will publish the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by the end of March 2012, with it coming into force for plan-making and decisions from that point onwards
• The NPPF will refocus planning policy to better support growth, will include a powerful presumption in favour of sustainable development to underpin all local plans and decisions, and will localise choice about the use of previously developed land, ending nationally imposed targets.
• The Government will shortly consult on proposals to amend the Use Class Order and the associated permitted development rights to make changing the use of buildings easier, for implementation by April 2013.
• Government will reduce unnecessary cost and delay to developers by: setting up a Major Infrastructure and Environment Unit; streamlining guidance; setting clearer standards for evidence; and changing the culture of statutory bodies.

Deregulation

• 84 per cent of health and safety regulation will be scrapped or improved, including legislating in 2012 so that ‘strict liability’ provisions in health and safety law will no longer hold employers to be in breach of their duties when they have done everything that is reasonably practicable and foreseeable to protect their employees
• Sector-based reviews of regulation will be launched from April 2012 to ensure regulation is enforced at the lowest possible cost to business, starting with chemicals manufacturing, volunteer events and small businesses in food manufacturing.