CA22240 - PMA: Buildings & structures: Safety at designated sports grounds

CAA01/S30

There are three separate pieces of legislation dealing with safety at sports grounds:

• Section 30 covers safety expenditure at sports grounds designated under the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975,
• Section 31 CA22250 covers safety expenditure incurred under the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987, and
• Section 32 CA22260 covers safety expenditure at grounds not covered by the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975.

PMAs are available if a person carrying on a qualifying activity takes required safety precautions at a designated sports ground used for the qualifying activity. A designated sports ground is a sports ground designated under section 1 Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 as requiring a certificate. Expenditure qualifies for PMAs under Section 30 if it does not already qualify for relief, either as a deduction or an allowance. The disposal value is nil.

Required safety precautions are:

• steps necessary to comply with the terms and conditions of a safety certificate that has been issued under the 1975 legislation for the ground, and
• steps specified by the local authority in a document as being steps which the local authority would take into account for the purposes of issuing, replacing or amending a safety certificate for the sports ground.

A local authority safety certificate cannot cover the provision of seats or covers over seats. This means that expenditure on seats and covers over seats cannot qualify for capital allowances under Section 30. However, expenditure on seats is likely to qualify as expenditure on plant in the normal way.

The construction of a building or structure does not normally qualify under Sections 30, 31 or 32. However, if a local authority requires the installation of a police control room, the expenditure will qualify for capital allowances provided that the normal conditions of are satisfied.