The Aggregates Levy is a UK matter and was introduced by HM Treasury. I
went to their website and got the original press release which included:
'The levy will apply at a rate of £1.60 per tonne to sand, gravel and
crushed rock extracted in the UK or its territorial waters. To protect
international competitiveness, the tax will be levied on imports but
exports will be exempt. Recycled aggregates will also not be subject to the
levy. The levy will raise around £380 million per year. The levy will be
administered by Customs and Excise and will take effect from 1 April 2002'
Consulting internally it is clear that the levy is currently being gathered
in Scotland as per the rest of the UK.
There are currently no proposals to establish a Sustainability Fund with
the monies from the Aggregates Levy in Scotland. The Scottish Distributive
Environmental Bodies recently asked the Scottish Executive to consider
establishing an Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund to operate in a similar
manner to the existing Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
The Scottish Executive responded on the 3 April 2002:
‘ The Minister, Ross Finnie, told the Scottish Parliament in November last
year, in reply to a question from Alex Neil MSP, that Scotland will receive
approximately £3 million per year from 2002-3 as part of the allocation by
the Treasury of the proceeds of the Aggregates Levy. Decisions on how it
will be spent have yet to be made.’
‘A number of options are under consideration. There is already a
Sustainable Action Fund administered by the Scottish Executive which could
do many of the things you m,ention as well as much else. Although its funds
are limited at present. In particular, it provides core funding to Forawrd
Scotland, part of whose task is to assist the release of Landfill Tax
Credit.’
So we await decisions up north.
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