The management of a London golf club has launched a scathing attack on the charity status of Britain’s largest operator of pay-and-play golf courses, stating that this is bad for the taxpayer and for other golf clubs.
Trent Park Public Golf Course in North London has said that the charity status of Mytime Active is a “disgrace” as consumers do not get cheaper golf and commercial operators find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
Mytime Active runs 19 golf clubs in the UK, and was this year awarded a 50-year contract to run all seven of Birmingham’s municipal courses, which, according to Birmingham City Council, has “safeguarded public golf for future generations” in the city. Mytime Active has since claimed that it has already invested more than £1 million in those seven facilities alone.
The organisation, originally known as Bromley Mytime, started managing selected leisure services for Bromley Council in 2004, and has since grown to enjoy a turnover of £33 million and deliver an array of leisure, golf and health services for local authorities and primary care trusts.
However, as a charity, it can qualify for a number of tax concessions surrounding, for example, business rates, corporation tax and capital gains tax.
According to Trent Park, this charity status gives the 19 clubs operated by Mytime Active a competitive advantage over other golf clubs.
“It has been the UK taxpayer that has invested a million pounds in Birmingham’s municipal golf courses,” said a spokesman.
“Under the cover of their so-called ‘not-for-profit’ status, which affords Mytime Active tax concessions in the form of no VAT, no corporation tax and no business rates, Mytime Active has now built the largest presence in the commercial golf sector to the detriment of both the UK taxpayer who is subsidising them and taxpaying golf operators like ourselves.
“We cannot compete on acquisitions or operations with these outrageous state-funded subsidies.
“The recent purchase of Orpington Golf Centre will cost HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC] approximately £350,000 per annum in lost revenues which are being reinvested in acquiring other commercial facilities like these Birmingham courses, which results in further huge revenue losses annually to HMRC and erosion of the tax base.
“This is a disgraceful situation particularly as there is no obvious benefit to consumers who find themselves paying no less for their golf following a Mytime takeover. The only beneficiaries being their highly-paid salaried executives and golf course landlords.”
According to its website, Mytime Active is a social enterprise and charity that invests “every penny of surplus back into the business – just over £16 million to date.”
That money, it states, does not maximise profits for shareholders or owners, but is “reinvested in the business or in the community.”
It adds: “Through a combination of business acumen, best practice and a community ethos, we have enjoyed rapid growth. As a social enterprise, we are a business with social objectives and are constantly investing in new equipment, better standards in our facilities and refurbishments at our golf courses.”
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