Cultural Heritage: Tax Allowances

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HMRC has made of the effectiveness of tax relief to national heritage assets to ensure continued Public Rights of Way access.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 1st March 2021

The tax exemption scheme for heritage assets preserves and protects national heritage, which may otherwise have been sold or taken out of the UK, for the benefit of the public. It also ensures that the public have access to heritage assets in private ownership which they would otherwise not see.

Although public rights of way are not exclusive to land within the exemption scheme and are not regulated by HMRC, where they exist, they are, together with bridleways, byways and permissive paths, likely to form a part of the public access requirement. If so, the agreement with HMRC will normally include measures to keep the rights of way open.

Reticulating Splines