GRAYSHOTT'S skate park has been dealt a "shattering blow" because the village may need to find an extra £5,200 for the project. Fundraisers may not be able to reclaim all the VAT for the long-awaited facility, meaning extra cash must be found to pay off the tax. All seemed to be going well for the £37,000 project with £27,500 raised by the village's youth group and grants from councils and organisations. The skate park on the recreation ground is to be owned and run by the parish council, which assumed the VAT would be reclaimed in line with usual practice However, a VAT inspector has ruled that the portion of any purchase funded from government and local authority grants is not VAT deductible. "In effect this adds about £5,200 to the money the youth group have to find - a shattering blow," district councillor and skate park supporter Ferris Cowper told The Herald. "The background to this infernal VAT issue is that the Grayshott Youth Group, the parent organisation for the skate park project, were told originally that as the skate park would become a parish council facility, the parish council could reclaim all the VAT. "On a project costing £37,000 before VAT, that is a saving on the taxable items worth over £5,000 - a hell of a lot of fundraising. "However, a VAT inspector told the parish council verbally, not in writing, that he would not allow any VAT to be reclaimed on the portion of costs which is funded by a government or local government grant. "I have taken up the challenge of trying to sort this out using my combined knowledge as a professional accountant and local government councillor. "Initially I am going to try to get the ruling reversed as the guidelines for VAT actually seem to allow grant funded purchases to be VAT deductible. "Failing that I have a number of other avenues to try before we have to fall back on yet more fundraising." He added: "The volunteers on Grayshott Youth Group have put in so much effort on this, as well as other projects for Grayshott's young people," he said. "I feel we have to find a way of fighting back against these occasional bursts of heartbreaking news. Sometimes I find the resistance to helping our younger villagers intensely frustrating." "The project has been driven through thick and thin by two very determined volunteer mums Liz Pennick and Diana Lovelock whose resilience in the face of seemingly endless red tape has to be seen to be believed. My wife Sally has also been active on this project along with Peter Harrison, a local businessman and resident. "They invest huge amounts of effort and creativity to raise a lot of money, and local councils like the parish council and the district council supply generous grants. "The damage to their morale was palpable when this news broke. I just hope we can get this sorted out."
