Scottish Borders Council

Agenda item

Response to Transient Visitor Taxes in Scotland

Consider report by Executive Director.  (Report and 2 appendices attached.)

Minutes:

MEMBER

Councillor Edgar left the meeting.

 

URGENT BUSINESS

Under Section 50B(4)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the Chairman was of the opinion that the item dealt with in the following paragraph should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency, in view of the need to make an early decision.

 

6.1       There had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director providing a draft formal response to the National Discussion Document published by Scottish Government on 23 November 2018 as ‘Transient Visitor Taxes in Scotland: Supporting a National Discussion’.  The report was urgent as, on 14 January 2019 Scottish Government set a deadline for submission of evidence of 25 January 2019 which, after a request from the Council, was subsequently extended to allow consideration by the Executive Committee of 29 January.  The report explained that a number of local authorities and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) had called for the Scottish Government to grant the powers to allow them to levy a transient visitor tax, or tourist tax (TVT), in their areas, should local circumstances be supportive.  Scottish Government had responded by initiating a National Discussion about ‘Transient Visitor Taxes in Scotland’, and published a comprehensive Discussion Document to facilitate dialogue.  The Discussion Document and the draft response from Scottish Borders Council were attached to the report as Appendices A and B respectively. 

 

6.2       Corporate Policy Advisor, Mr Cook, explained that he and Councillors Mark Rowley, Carol Hamilton and Gordon Edgar had attended a meeting at Tweed Horizons on 19 December 2018, which was held to support the national discussion and chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government.  The draft response appended to the report amplified the concerns verbally expressed at that meeting on behalf of the Council.  There were three strands to this:

 

·                     Any discussion about empowering local authorities to raise taxes locally, including transient visitor tax, should be seen as a strand of a wider discussion about the adequacy of the resources and the lack of fiscal powers available to councils in undertaking the broad range of functions for which they were responsible.

 

·                     The Council had no plans to pursue a transient visitor tax within the Scottish Borders Council area.  The Council considered that to do so would have a negative impact on the number and expenditure of visitors in the area, owing to price sensitivity.

 

·                     The Council had concerns that a transient visitor tax may exacerbate the existing concentration of visitors and spend in Scotland.  Such an approach would appear to run counter to the principles of inclusive economic growth, and self-defeating in providing new and improved facilities to draw yet more visitors to those areas with the greatest concentrations of visitors and spend already.

 

 

Members were supportive of the report and the views contained in the draft response to the Discussion Document.  They emphasised the need for inclusive growth in the tourist industry and expressed concern in particular about the additional burden which would be placed on accommodation providers should a tourist tax be put in place. Officers were thanked for preparing the report at short notice.  Councillor Rowley proposed that the wording in point 3 of paragraph 4.3 of the report should also be included in the response and this was unanimously approved.

 

            DECISION

            APPROVED the draft response to the National Discussion on Transient Visitor Taxes in Scotland as detailed in Appendix B to the report, with the inclusion of the following wording - “The Council has concerns that a transient visitor tax may exacerbate the existing concentration of visitors and spend in Scotland.  Such an approach would appear to run counter to the principles of inclusive economic growth, and self-defeating in providing new and improved facilities to draw yet more visitors to those areas with the greatest concentrations of visitors and spend already.”

 

Supporting documents:

 

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