I must have been into thousands of gents’ loos in my life but I have never seen anything like the ones at Barton Grange Garden Centre.

They were almost too good to use.

Such a shame that only men can view them.

And before anyone asks, I was very careful not to be seen using a camera in the gents.

A few weeks ago HMRC published their first list of businesses who they say are deliberately defaulting paying tax. Richard Murphy has suggested that only little people are named and shamed for not paying tax but I would like to raise another point

What is the point of HMRC naming and shaming businesses when they have failed to collect the tax and penalties and will probably never ever receive a penny of the amount due?

The Trade Beverage Company Ltd of Mobberley owed £156,000 in corporation tax and £292,000 in penalties but according to the Manchester Evening News the company

was set up in March 2009, but 13 months later defaulted on a tax payment. It did the same in February 2011 and again in the following September. Last March it was served with a winding up notice and is now listed as being in liquidation.

HMRC would be better spending their time collecting the tax rather than naming and shaming people who are probably not bothered about the publicity. However, as I have explained previously, it’s not HMRC’s fault.

There is an interesting story in the Spin Good News Latest News section of  the South Lakeland District Council website – Councillor Clare Feeney-Johnson, has been shortlisted for a national award.

She has been shortlisted in the (rather catchily named) Local Government Information Units Achievement Awards (LGIU) for Sustainability Champion of the Year Award . The submission paper for the awards “lists Cllr Feeney-Johnson’s achievements which show her passion for the environment“.

One of  the criteria for the award is

That they practise what they preach

In which case, would she please explain why SLDC have chopped down about 2o trees near Kendal Castle to provide a space for a playground BEFORE a decision has been made to move the playground to this site? Having previously said

one of the key priorities of South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) is to ensure South Lakeland is a safer, greener, cleaner and stronger community

According to Councillor Clare Feeney-Johnson, one of the key priorities of South Lakeland District Council (SLDC)

is to ensure South Lakeland is a safer, greener, cleaner and stronger community

If so, would she please explain why SLDC have chopped down about 2o trees near Kendal Castle to provide a space for a playground BEFORE a decision has been made to move the playground to this site?

In less than a couple of months, my district council. South Lakeland District Council (SLDC), has managed to waste more than £400,000 by making the wrong decisions. The specific details are:

Installing new parking ticket machines to make sure tickets could not be transferred from driver to driver and then changing their minds – £340,000

Losing £100,000 owed to SLDC by K Shopping Village, having previously allowed the owners to defer payment – £100,000

Settling a claim by disabled drivers re parking on SLDC car parks because they didn’t follow procedures – £55,000

Cutting down trees they planted less than ten years ago to move the Castle playground (yet again) -£12,000

The playground decision is too recent to have appeared in the Westmorland Gazette but the councillor for the Castle area has said that the proposal to move the playground is going ahead. She also told my wife that the council had been paid the £100,000 by K Shopping Village!

I don’t know if the new playground needs planning permission but if it does then I can’t trace the application on the SLDC site. I guess it must be going ahead though because they’ve cut down about 20 trees, as shown in this photo.

So much for SLDC’s green policies!

The latest issue of the face of Windermere & Kendal has an article about tax and Christmas, written by me.

The online version of the magazine is available here. And if you’re stuck for a gift for the man in your life look at Bedroom Athletics on pages 20 and 21. And for something completely different, my article is shown below!

At this time of year, with January tax bills just over the horizon, it’s difficult not to think of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as Scrooge rather than Father Christmas, but even HMRC shows a little Christmas spirit by allowing tax relief on Christmas parties for employees and sometimes even for the business owners themselves.

Not surprisingly the rules are complicated and if you’re self employed, as opposed to being a director of your own limited company, your party dinner will not qualify for tax relief.

In very simple terms there is an exemption from tax and National Insurance if you provide a party which meets three conditions:

• it’s an annual event
• the event is open to all of your employees
• the cost per head of the event isn’t more than £150

And, because HMRC refers to an “annual event” it doesn’t have to be a Christmas party. It could be a summer barbeque.  Better still, if you want to hold a Christmas party and a summer barbeque, provided the combined cost of both events is no more than £150, the exemption still applies.

Spouses and partners may also attend and the £150 exemption is per head not per couple. VAT can be reclaimed on the cost for staff but not for spouses and partners.

For those bosses who are truly entering the festive spirit, they should remember that trivial seasonal gifts are also “tax free”.  HMRC‘s advice is:

An employer may provide employees with a seasonal gift, such as a turkey, an ordinary bottle of wine or a box of chocolates at Christmas. All of these gifts can be treated as trivial benefits.

Sadly Scrooge may be the right image for HMRC after all because “If the gift extends beyond one of the items mentioned above, for example from a bottle or two to a case of wine, or from a turkey to a Christmas hamper” it may not be trivial and therefore taxable.

Bah humbug.

I attended last week’s open meeting about the Kendal BID along with four other business owners, a representative from Kendal Futures, the head of the steering committee and Chris Kolek, the KendalBID Coordinator and I can only say

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

I don’t want to criticise the idea and those who are keen to make it happen but it’s just not my scene (too political in my opinion). Good luck to everyone concerned but I will not being taking part again unless the Business Improvement District includes my office and I’m allowed to vote.

If you’re one of the 800+ businesses in Kendal which may be affected by the Kendal BID you should attend this meeting

@gazettenewsdesk Kendal Business Improvement District open meeting. Hav ur say Shakespeare Centre 6pm-7pm Thurs 29 Nov http://t.co/J1hvz9tN

November 28, 2012 20:29 via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@KendalBID

Kendal BID

I have checked that businesses will be allowed to ask questions and put their views forward!

@StuartJones Very much a discussion about BIDs. This is 2nd of 3 such events. Nxt is 5 Dec at 6pm Riverside Hotel.

November 29, 2012 11:05 via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@KendalBID

Kendal BID

I am delighted that Cumbria has been given £5m from the government’s Regional Growth Fund which will allow Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

having worked very closely with partners, to construct a programme that will support key priority sectors in Cumbria as well as promoting SMEs and exports

As usual the devil will be in the detail but what concerns me even at this early stage is who the partners are!

Cumbria County Council and Cumbria Chamber of Commerce will “deliver the project” and CN Group, publisher of The Cumberland News, will be the “media partner”!

What experience of “business development” does a county council have? The same question can be asked of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, whose Business Start-up Support Programme is delivered in partnership with numerous public bodies and quangos Britain’s Energy Coast, Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency, Furness Enterprise and Ways into Successful Enterprise.

And, finally, what is a “media partner”? What will CN Group be doing to promote SMEs?

Yet again, we see government money intended for businesses being shared around public bodies and the numerous business support quangos which still exist in Cumbria.

Nothing changes.

P.S. Midden has many meanings.

Chambers of trade, nationally, are calling for a voucher scheme for small and medium-sized businesses to obtain advice and to support their expansion plans.

Cumbria Chamber seems to be ahead of the game on this one as announced recently by Rob Johnston, OBE  (the chief executive of the chamber)

Fortunately in Cumbria we won’t have to wait for a decision nationally on this one. Working with partners, we have secured funding for some significant projects providing just this sort of support. We’ll be launching these as soon as funding agreements have been finalised, which should be in the next few weeks.

I just hope that:

1. The vouchers aren’t restricted to a “selected” few.
2. Preference is given to Cumbrian advisors rather than ones from say Manchester. Cumbria LEP’s minutes from last year mentioned Winning Pitch (scroll to the bottom) “who are looking for LEP support for their bid to deliver Business Coaching for Growth.
3. Cumbria’s business development quangos are not unduly favoured.

Time will tell.