Tractor fees to increase as Sark approves budget

It currently costs £150 to operate a tractor in Sark

Sark's Chief Pleas has approved its budget for 2026, outlining a plan for spending about £2.5m and raising an income of £2.53m.

As part of the budget, Sark's Douzaine has set out plans to increase a range of licence fees from January, including doubling the cost of licences for tractors and construction vehicles.

Tractor licences will rise from £150 to £300 and firearms and shotgun certificates will increase for the first time since 2002.

Policy & Finance Committee (P&F) said a rise in expenditure reflected essential projects including repairs to La Coupee, support for vulnerable parishioners, medical cover at the Sark Medical Practice, and work on a new island plan.

All licence propositions for Sark were approved in the budget

Other licence changes include horse, dog and bicycle licences going up by 28% since last reviewed in 2021, carriage licences for vans increasing from £30 to £40, and carriage driver licences up from £12 to £15.

The Douzaine said: "In an ideal world, there would be no increases in licences, but in the real world, no increases means that our income will fall further behind our costs, which will, inevitably, rise by at least RPI.

"We are very aware they are costs many people will have to pay.

"That said, we are also very aware that the demands on general taxation are very large over the next few years – not least for major projects falling in our brief such as La Coupée, the Harbour Quarry, the Old Island Hall, Rubbish disposal and sewage.

"We think these increases are reasonable in rebalancing the contribution from the heaviest users, reasonable for all of us with bicycles and fair on the tourist attraction of carriages."