COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE

You might recall a few weeks ago we wrote to you about the decision to levy VAT on alterations to listed buildings, as announced in the Budget. Since then there have been the now famous "U-turns" on many other tax alterations mentioned in the budget - pasty taxes, caravan taxes and charity taxes to name a few. However the ill-advised Heritage Tax is still set to be implemented. 

The proposal to add 20% to the cost of alterations will force individuals, charities and community groups to pay tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds extra to look after our historic buildings. This will make it much harder to maintain the use of listed buildings for everyone to enjoy.

Worse still, the justification for this tax rise is based on insufficient information and fatuous claims. This is why today the Countryside Alliance, along with 14 other organisations including the Federation of Master Builders, has had a letter and news article published in today's issue of The Times, urging the Chancellor to review the proposed implementation of the Heritage Tax. We are also asking people to sign a petition against VAT on work on listed buildings and show their support for our Scrap the Heritage Tax campaign. You can sign up here

Barney White-Spunner
Executive Chairman

Sign an e-petition on this issue here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32056

Fifteen organisations, including the Countryside Alliance, have had a letter published in The Times today, urging the Chancellor to U-turn on the decision to levy VAT on alterations to listed buildings. Read on for the letter in full.

Dear Sir,

Despite recent u-turns on a VAT hike for pasties and caravans, the Treasury still appears to be planning a 20% tax rise that will damage the nation's finest and most loved buildings. Worse still, this tax rise is based on completely insufficient evidence. When the Treasury announced plans to remove the current VAT relief on approved alterations to listed buildings in the Budget it stated that ‘the majority’ of the work covered by the relief was ‘not necessary for heritage purposes’, the complete opposite of our experience. A Freedom of Information request has subsequently revealed that this was based on just 105 cases despite the fact there are almost 30,000 Listed Building Consent applications every a year.

Since the Budget, ministers have repeatedly told MPs and the public that this VAT increase was about stopping millionaires installing swimming pools tax free. When we looked at a sample of 12,049 recent applications from across the UK, we found only 34 applications for swimming pools (and much less than half of these had any chance of qualifying for the VAT relief).

50% of people who live in listed buildings are in socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E. So why does the Treasury continue to feed MPs with this ‘millionaires’ swimming pool’ line and encourage them to send it on to angry constituents who are rightly concerned about the future of the buildings they cherish and care for?

The Government’s decision to provide additional compensation to listed places of worship is a clear admission that the VAT increase will put our historic buildings at risk, but offers nothing to help community centres, town halls, village halls or privately owned listed buildings.

We are already seeing evidence of many projects that have been cancelled or put on hold as owners worry about how to raise an additional 20% and projects become unaffordable. This is having a negative impact on the construction industry at a time when weak demand is holding back wider economic recovery.

As Chancellor, we want you to recognise the risks are simply too high to carry on as planned and therefore we call on you to review the proposed implementation of VAT on alterations to listed buildings before it is introduced – before it is too late.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Anslow
Managing Director
Listed Property Owners Club

Brian Berry
Chief Executive
Federation of Master Builders

Steve Bratt
Chief Executive
Electrical Contractors' Association

Harry Cotterell
President
Country Land & Business Association

Julia Evans
Chief Executive
National Federation of Builders

Julia Goodwin
Editor
House Beautiful

Dr Noël James
Director
Historic Towns Forum

Andrew Leech
Executive Director
National Home Improvement Council

Dr Seán O'Reilly
Director
The Institute of Historic Building Conservation

Yvonne Orgill
Chief Executive
Bathroom Manufacturers Association

Kate Pugh
Chief Executive
The Heritage Alliance

Nigel Rees
Group Chief Executive
Glass and Glazing Federation

Shaun Spiers
Chief Executive
Campaign to Protect Rural England

Nick Way
Director General
Historic Houses Association

Sir Barney White-Spunner KCB CBE
Executive Chairman
Countryside Alliance