‘Tourism tax means locals will not shoulder unfair value’, Wembley Stadium native council chief says
EXCLUSIVE: A tourism levy has been praised by the leader of Brent Council, which covers Wembley Stadium, who said it would mean ‘real benefits to our businesses and local economy’ but also help bring visitors back
The leader of the Brent Council said a tourism levy would be a ‘pro-growth measure’(Image: Getty Images)
The local leader of the authority that covers Wembley Stadium has welcomed a new tourism tax and called the plans a “pro-growth measure”.
The Government, on Thursday, announced plans to give regional mayors greater economic power and the ability to implement a levy on overnight stays. Local leaders will set the fee as a percentage of the cost of accommodation, rather than a flat rate, which ministers argue will protect budget trips.
The levy will have no upper limit, though Government sources said mayors are unlikely to make it too expensive. Brent Council, home to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena, last year proposed a motion to implement a visitors levy. The council leader has welcomed today’s announcement and said it could help “give us more to invest back into the area”.
Similar schemes already exist in Europe, the US and Canada to help fund local services and attractions. Mayors will decide how to spend the revenue raised from the fee rather than money being funnelled back into the Treasury.
Brent Council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt told the Mirror a visitor levy would help the authority as large-scale event in the borough “brings very real pressures”. Wembley Stadium welcomed more than 2.5million fans this summer alone for concerts from Harry Styles, The Weekend and Luke Combs. England’s national football stadium will also host the final of the 2028 Euro’s final and a NFL match this October.
Cllr Butt said: “We are immensely proud to be home to Wembley Stadium and Arena and to host some of the biggest sporting and music events in the world. There are few better sights for me than seeing Wembley packed, with families and fans enjoying themselves and people travelling from across the country and around the world to visit our borough. These events are a huge part of what makes Brent such a special place and bring real benefits to our businesses and local economy.
“But hosting events on this scale also brings very real pressures – from waste and street cleaning to enforcement, community safety and pressure on our public spaces. That’s why it is so important we get the visitor levy right, so we can sustain that success while making sure our residents aren’t left to shoulder an unfair share of the cost.”
The council leader added the levy “should not simply disappear into general budgets” believed money generated shouldn’t just be used “to plug unrelated funding gaps in areas like adult social care or housing”.
He also said the money should stay close to where it was generated, adding: “The money should be ringfenced for the visitor economy and the pressures that come with it – keeping streets clean, improving the public realm, enforcement and making the areas people come to visit better places to spend time in.
“For us, this is a pro-growth measure. We are asking visitors to make a small contribution, just as they do in many other major cities across Europe and investing that money back into the places they have come to visit.
“If we invest more in the area around Wembley, keep it clean and make the public realm more attractive, visitors have a better experience. That encourages more people to come, means more money spent with local businesses and gives us more to invest back into the area. It becomes a virtuous circle, for a very modest contribution from visitors.”
“There is a question of trust here too. People are much more likely to understand a visitor levy if they can see where their money is going. If you stay in Brent and make a small contribution, you should be able to see that being reinvested in the place you have come to enjoy. Residents should be able to see that link as well.”
Labour’s 10 regional mayors, in a letter to the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary, committed to a 5% cap on any tourist tax introduced in their areas. They said: “Our underlying principle is that any levy we introduce should be modest and the revenue should be reinvested into areas which support our local economies.”
Plans for the tax were first announced under Sir Keir Starmer following similar schemes introduced by the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. Prime Minister Andy Burnham reiterated his commitment to the scheme, framing it as part of his wider devolution agenda aimed at pushing power out of Whitehall.
Some industry chiefs shared their concerns over the plans and said they believe it could cost the UK hospitality and tourism sector as a whole as much as £1.6 billion. Allen Simpson, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said jobs could be at risk in communities that rely on tourism and hospitality.
Mr Simpson, speaking on BBC Radio 4, said: “I would say to those people in these communities that their jobs are now at risk. It will be the case that you’ll have holiday parks which can’t open in the shoulder seasons and of course people who go on holiday will just have that little bit less money in their pocket.”
