Southport’s Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups have expressed concern over proposals by Sefton Council to secure contributions from developers toward maintaining and enhancing Southport’s visitor infrastructure.
The proposed charge for qualifying developments is £2,680 per 100m² of new or converted floorspace, for schemes of 100m² or more.
Sefton Council say the visitor infrastructure in Southport, which supports tourism and significantly contributes to the local economy, is under significant strain due to high visitor numbers and limited Council budgets.
The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) proposes that certain types of development projects, which directly benefit from tourism, contribute financially to the maintenance and improvement of facilities and infrastructure. Contributions would specifically target infrastructure within the Central and Seafront areas of Southport, as well as visitor accommodation across the wider Southport area.
Developments subject to this charge include:
– Hotels, B&Bs, short stays, and holiday accommodation (throughout Southport)
– Bars, restaurants, hot food takeaways (Central/Seafront areas)
– Cultural attractions, entertainment venues like theatres, cinemas, nightclubs (Central/Seafront areas)
– Visitor attractions relying heavily on tourists (Central/Seafront areas)
– Large retail developments (500m²+ floorspace) with significant car parking outside the Primary Shopping Area (but within Central/Seafront areas)
Councillor Prendergast said, “This proposal is a Southport Investment Tax and will simply drive investment elsewhere. In their own press release, Sefton Council acknowledge that Southport is ‘Sefton’s key Tourism and Visitor location’. How on earth does this proposal encourage investment into our town centre?”
“Southport relies heavily on its tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors and they are already grappling with increases in the minimum wage and massive increases in National Insurance by the Labour national government. At a local level, local businesses already pay their Business Rates and many in the town centre pay more to contribute to Southport BID. Car parking charges are high and Labour in Sefton have flatly refused to review these.
“Local businesses are already suffering; Labour can’t just keep squeezing them for more money, locally as well as nationally, you can’t tax your way to growth. These proposals should have been rejected by Sefton Labour but instead, once again, Southport is being used as a cash cow.
“We want to encourage investment in our Southport, not put people off. Sefton Council is in the process of spending £73.5 million on the new MLEC facility and we want to draw investment in on the back of that. Taxing developers more will drive potential investors to go elsewhere and jeopardise the viability of the new centre in the longer term. Without good hotels being built in the area, how can a brand-new convention centre last?
“Outside of the town centre, this will also catch other potential development. In Ainsdale, we want to see the area around The Sands and Pontins improved, the likelihood of that incorporating any kind of new hotel or holiday accommodation is now reduced because of this new tax.
“This latest tax on Southport needs to be dropped and we need policies that encourage investment, not drive it away. Southport is a wonderful place to live, work and visit and we could make it so much better if we create the environment for businesses to thrive and draw people in.”
According to Cllr John Pugh, Liberal Democrat opposition leader on Sefton Council, there is a concern that the effects of this levy may be very different from the aspiration.
Cllr Pugh says: “It may in practice act as an incentive for businesses to ignore or disinvest in the town centre and go to Birkdale, Ainsdale and Churchtown where there is no such levy. Southport town centre businesses on top of rates already pay an additional levy to the Southport BID (Business Improvement District) and currently are living on very fine margins.
“I think we need to see some evidence that this kind of strategy has actually worked to revive declining town centres. Policy needs to be evidence led. Taxing investment does not normally encourage investment and the town centre needs investment!
“There would need to be too a way of showing businesses that their contribution to maintenance is additional to and not instead of Sefton’s funding. Developers across England already have to pay for any impacts their development has on council services. It would be tough if town centre developers uniquely have to pay another levy on top of that – a double whammy. With the BID charges it’s a triple whammy!
Cllr Pugh added: “I do not doubt the ‘good intentions’ of Sefton Council but am worried about real world impacts and urge caution. The Council is one month trumpeting the fact that with government money it is temporarily reducing the rates for a hard-pressed leisure and retail sector and next month assuming they are doing well enough to cope with an extra charge when they extend or convert their premises. One month they are encouraging owners to convert shops to homes; next month they are threatening to tax them for doing so. It does not look like a joined up strategy”
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