Charging regulations that force councils to pay an estimated £1m a year for sports clubs to have ground safety certification are outdated and should be reformed, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).
Under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and linked regulations from 1987, local authorities are responsible for sports ground safety certification, including for the 92 English Premier League and English Football League clubs.
New research by the LGA estimates that this collectively costs local authorities over £1.1m per year, with councils paying an average cost of £5,869 per sports ground. This rises to over £20,000 per ground for some football stadia.
Ahead of the Premier League returning this evening, the LGA argues that sports clubs should pay the fees to oversee sports safety rather than councils.
Cllr Heather Kidd, chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: ‘Football and sport have changed massively since 1975 when Kevin Keegan was footballer of the year and Brentford were in the Fourth Division. The current charging regulations are outdated and in need of reform. It is perverse that with the revenue in some sports, particularly football, that clubs are not meeting the costs of this vital work, unlike other businesses councils regulate, which rightly pick up the costs of regulation through the licence fees they pay.’
She added: ‘Some of our top clubs are paying their players hundreds of thousands of pounds a week, while at the same time councils face significant financial pressures to provide vital local services, and this is an extra cost they shouldn’t have to pick up.’
