Overnight Visitor Levy: CCN responds

Today the government announced the conclusion of its consultation into the Overnight Visitor Levy and confirmed that strategic authorities will be given the power to introduce a tourist levy, if desired.

Below, the County Councils Network responds.

Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, Vice-Chair of the County Councils Network, said:

“The County Councils Network has long argued for fiscal devolution and the transfer of powers from central government to local areas. For those areas that want to implement an Overnight Visitor Levy, this could provide another means of raising revenue to improve their communities and bolster economic growth.

“However, there is a risk that county and unitary councils within a mayoral or foundation strategic authority do not see any of these proceeds, despite being closest to their communities and knowing what drives their local economies. This could mean there is little benefit for certain county communities from the levy, which runs counter to its aims of improving local places and works against delivering growth in every postcode. Therefore, the government should clearly stipulate a proportion of any tourist levy income must be distributed to local authorities by the strategic authority.

“We are pleased government has listened to our calls to make these powers available for the county areas where a mayor is unsuitable. But there remains dozens of counties without any sort of devolution agreement – locking them out of any fiscal devolution powers – so we urge the government to ‘complete the devolution map’, where there is local consent, by the end of 2028.”

In 2025, the CCN modelled a tourist levy and analysed what resource could generate across England in a report on fiscal devolution.

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