Aggregates levy to hit £2.00 a tonne

Already reeling from a hike in the aggregates levy from £1.60 to £1.95 from April this year, quarry firms can now also prepare themselves for a further 5p rise from April 2009, the Chancellor announced in his Budget yesterday.

The further hike is necessary to “…maintain the environmental impact” of the levy, the report states. A view not necessarily shared by those in the quarrying industry such as the British Aggregates Association (BAA). “I am all out of comment,” the BAA’s Peter Huxtable told MQR. “It is a case of being ignored, ignored ignored. The motive of revenue raising outweighs all others. It is shabby operating.”

And it was a case of new Chancellor, new year, but old figures. As with the previous two budgets the report used data from the taxman for 2001-2005 to stress the levy’s green credentials.

This shows sales of virgin aggregate in Great Britain reduced by around 18 million tonnes. However, it fails to show that since 2004 sales have climbed by just over 31,000tonnes, as highlighted in the latest HMRC figures.