CA22250 - PMA: Buildings & structures: Safety at regulated stands at sports grounds

CAA01/S31

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

• Section 30 CA22240 covers safety expenditure at sports grounds designated under the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975,
• Section 31 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 stand at a sports ground whose use requires a safety certificate under Part III Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987 and which is used for the qualifying activity. 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 1987 legislation for the stand, or
• 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 stand.

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 31. 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 Section 31. 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.