The North Berwick Community Council (NBCC) is planning to object to East Lothian Council’s proposals to introduce a visitor levy.
Kenny Miller, the Chair of NBCC, told The Edinburgh Reporter that they held a community council meeting at the beginning of August, they are holding a business meeting (with members only) to discuss the matter further this week, and they will also attend a meeting of the East Lothian Association of Community Councils next week to discuss their reaction to the visitor levy, but their current view is that they think such a levy would be too onerous for local hospitality businesses.
The draft minutes of their recent meeting on 4 August are not yet available but it is understood that questions were raised at the meeting about the details of the scheme and in particular how the levy will be spent.
Some of the community councillors were also worried that there was no way for anyone answering the consultation to say that they did not support the levy at all.
East Lothian Council is running a consultation until mid September and NBCC as a statutory consultee will make their views known officially.
The council have said that the levy will be charged on overnight accommodation at five per cent – which is the same rate as the council in Edinburgh already charges – the first Scottish council to impose the tax.
In their documentation East Lothian Council have also said that accommodation providers will retain two per cent of the levy collected as a contribution to their administration costs.
East Lothian Council estimate that the levy will raise around £1.2 million in revenue to “be spent on facilities mainly used by visitors” in the council area. As the government insists on a minimum implementation period of 18 months before any scheme can be introduced the levy will not commence before spring 2028 – and it will also require council approval.
Meantime Mr Miller said: “North Berwick is probably the town most affected by this in the county, because we have the biggest proportion of tourism and so on of all the towns in the county.
“We would just hope that this isn’t going to put people off because people come here for the golf and so on. That is already struggling because of the parking management scheme.”
Mr Miller outlined that there have already been threats of missing North Berwick out from private golf tours and going elsewhere, “where they know they can park”. He also pointed out that the car parking scheme is too complicated with three different zones and three different sets of rules. He said: “We have been talking to East Lothian Council about making it simpler, if they really must have a parking management scheme for the time being until next May when the elections will happen. It should be made much simpler so that people can understand it, and aren’t frightened away by the rules.”
A spokesperson for East Lothian Council said: “The proposed five per cent rate is part of the draft scheme currently being consulted on and no final decision has been taken on either introducing a levy or its final design.
“The levy itself would be paid by the visitor rather than being a direct charge on accommodation businesses, although we recognise that businesses may face administrative and systems costs in collecting and remitting it. Those practical impacts are an important part of the consultation.
“Previous research undertaken with visitors to East Lothian found a high level of acceptance of the principle of a visitor levy, particularly where people could see that the money raised would be reinvested in facilities, services and infrastructure that support the visitor experience and wider visitor economy.
“We have already received constructive feedback from accommodation providers, including the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers and businesses operating a significant proportion of overnight accommodation in East Lothian.
“That feedback will be carefully considered alongside all other consultation responses and has already helped us identify opportunities to provide additional clarification and information during the consultation process.
“The consultation remains open until September 18 and members of the visitor levy team will continue discussions with accommodation providers and other stakeholders over the coming weeks.”
