The Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) has published a report into the regulatory burden on sport and recreation clubs. They believe that sports clubs are being choked by red tape and bureaucracy which is unnecessary, wastes time and money, and is stopping volunteers from playing a fuller role in their communities.

The report, ‘Red Card to Red Tape – How sports clubs want to break free from bureaucracy’, was commission by the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, and will feed into the Government’s wider review of regulation being conducted by the Cabinet Office.

The reports findings include some of the following burdens on clubs:

• Being charged for a music licence for playing a radio in the changing room or putting the TV in the bar on for the football results;
• Local authorities not allowing clubs to use their leisure facilities unless they have £5m of public liability insurance;
• Being charged VAT to develop public facilities open to the community, forcing clubs to raise 20% more than they should need to;
• Local councils banning volunteers from maintaining footpaths and rights of way in case they are sued if something goes wrong;
• The necessity to pass an Act of Parliament to allow a motor race on British roads;
• Being charged the same as high street bars and nightclubs for liquor licensing;
• VAT being charged on spending funded by government grants –an immediate take-back of 20% and a waste of everyone’s time;
• Clubs adhering to the Health and Safety Act even when not required to do so for fear of being sued;
• Sports graduates being required to re-train to meet national standards, despite having spent three years at university;
• Even the smallest clubs having to register as a ‘data controller’ under the Data Protection Act.

The report also calls on Government to more widely publicise the benefits of dedicating land for recreational access (under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act) allowing activates such as climbing to happen on private land without fear of litigation. Currently the BMC has already (or is in the process of) dedicating all of its landholdings.

Following the Review, the Sport and Recreation Alliance will continue to campaign for improved conditions for sport and recreation clubs. Its next step is to review the Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) scheme and re-launch it from a national governing body (NGB) perspective this summer. The re-launch will coincide with the 6,000th club becoming a CASC, by which time £100m will have been saved as a result of the scheme.

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