HUNDREDS of social events from music festivals to country shows are facing huge financial penalties under a government plan to introduce what some have called a tax on fun.

Events such as the Notting Hill Carnival, the Chelsea Flower Show and the Prince of Wales’s Prince’s Trust pop concerts in Hyde Park would be subject to new taxes of up to £50,000 as part of the overhaul of the licensing system.

The taxes are to be levied on any public entertainment event with more than 6,000 people that involves using temporary accommodation and serves alcohol or late-night refreshments.

The minimum tax is £5,000 and this rises depending on the number of people attending. An event with 30,000 but fewer than 40,000 people, for example, would face a £15,000 tax. This is payable to the local council to cover the costs of health and safety checks by officials at the event. Other popular events to be hit could include the Badminton and Burghley horse trials and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) Game Fair. Organisers of these large gatherings face a bill of £50,000 because they attract more than 75,000 people.

The proposals by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, will also affect hundreds of outdoor pop and jazz concerts at stately homes and country estates. Literary and folk music festivals, garden shows, and the annual round of point-to-point meetings and agricultural shows could also have to pay.

Fundraising events for charities or for local schools and hospitals could also be liable for the new charges.

A paper outlining the proposed fees is out for consultation. The idea is that, from February 7, local authorities must issue standard charges to cover their costs for inspections and health and safety checks on buildings and premises used for any large public events. The charges are for the licensing of one-off and annual events on temporary sites and not for concerts staged regularly at various venues. Payment is expected in advance to get a licence.

At present, councils can charge for the administration of these events but many impose minimum costs or waive the fees, especially for charity functions, and Ms Jowell is anxious that there should be a national tariff. However, the scale of the tax has provoked outrage from heritage and tourist chiefs who raise income from these events to pay for the maintenance and running costs of many stately homes and important houses.

Such a punitive levy would threaten the viability of many historic homes and could reduce numbers of domestic and overseas visitors, particularly in rural areas, where the economy is fragile.

The future of key countryside events and the scores of farming and food shows could also be in jeopardy. The game fair, for example, attracts nearly 140,000 people over three days and organisers are already worrying how they are going to raise the £25,000 tax which might be levied on next summer’s event at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.

The fundraising pop concerts Party in the Park organised by The Prince’s Trust are also threatened. At present Westminster City Council waives these charges if events are for charity, but a spokesman said yesterday that it had no idea if it can do so under the proposed new national scale.

Charles Trotman, adviser on the rural economy at the CLA, said: “We usually pay about £300 for a game fair licence. Now we are going to be hit by many thousands and don’t know how we can pay it. I also know of a beer festival to raise funds for a local school in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, that hopes to attract over 6,000 people and that might be hit.”

The CLA has now joined the National Trust, the Historic Houses Association, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions and the Visitor Attractions Forum to lobby against the charges.

John Whittingdale, the Conservative culture spokesman, said he would raise the issue as a matter of urgency in the Commons, adding: “This is another Labour stealth tax. A vote for Labour at the general election will be a vote for a tax on fun.”

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and and Sport said that the level of charges were “suggestions” in a consultation paper: “There is a feeling that council taxpayers should not be liable for the costs of inspecting these public entertainment events and there should be a standard national charge. The reason is to ensure crowd and fire safety.”

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