Browse regulations

Establishes the Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board for the local government areas of Aberdeenshire, City of Aberdeen and Moray, effective 31st August 1995, with full operational effect from 1st April 1996. The scheme provides for the constitution of the Board and the winding up of existing area tourist organisations.

Creates a government-sponsored regional tourism monopoly funded by mandatory levies or public expenditure. Tourism is a market activity that the private sector promotes far more efficiently through hotels, travel operators, destination websites, and chambers of commerce. Regional tourist boards represent mid-20th century state planning mentality that distorts competitive markets, imposes ongoing bureaucratic costs, and reduces innovation in tourism promotion. Adam Smith's invisible hand handles resource allocation better than government-designated boards.

Establishes the Angus and City of Dundee Tourist Board for local government areas of Angus and City of Dundee, effective 31st August 1995 (with full operations from 1st April 1996), providing for board constitution, function transfer from existing tourist organisations, and winding up of predecessor bodies.

Tourist boards represent government-funded intervention in what is naturally a private market for travel and hospitality services. This Order creates a quango that distorts resource allocation through compulsory taxation rather than voluntary market signals. If tourism promotion has genuine value, private businesses (hotels, attractions, travel operators) would voluntarily fund collaborative marketing efforts. This scheme perpetuates bureaucratic allocation of tourism resources, benefits established commercial interests over potential competitors, and imposes costs on taxpayers regardless of whether they benefit from or oppose tourism to the region. Post-Brexit regulatory independence should be used to dismantle such interventionist bodies rather than preserve them.

Establishes the Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and Trossachs Tourist Board via a scheme set out in the Schedule, effective 31st August 1995 for operations from 1st April 1996. Dissolves existing area tourist organisations and consolidates them into the new Board for specified Scottish local government areas.

Creates a publicly-funded quango that distorts private tourism markets, imposes levy or taxpayer costs on tourism businesses, and replaces private coordination with government administration. Such promotional bodies compete with private-sector tourism services and marketing, creating moral hazard and displacing potentially more efficient private alternatives.

Establishes the Ayrshire and Arran Tourist Board for the local government areas of East, North, and South Ayrshire, with effect from 1st April 1996. Sets out the Board's constitution, transitional provisions for winding up existing area tourist organisations, and necessary functions to bring the scheme into operation.

This is an administrative reorganization creating a regional tourism promotion body, not a restrictive regulatory instrument. Unlike gold-plated EU directives or planning restrictions that distort markets, tourist boards provide coordinated promotion that the private sector may underprovide due to free-rider problems. The Board is funded by industry levies rather than imposing broad regulatory costs on the economy, and its promotional function does not constrain supply, distort incentives, or create monopolies in the manner of binding economic regulations. Britons would be worse off without coordinated regional tourism promotion that helps attract visitors and support local economies.

Establishes the Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board as a statutory body for the local government area of Dumfries and Galloway, effective 31st August 1995, with the operational scheme commencing 1st April 1996. The Order sets out the Board's constitution, transfers functions from existing area tourist organisations being wound up, and provides for administrative transition arrangements.

Creates a government-sponsored monopoly in regional tourism promotion with no competitive alternative. Statutory tourist boards restrict the natural market for tourism services, impose ongoing public administration costs, and their collective promotion model can be delivered more efficiently through private-sector hotels, travel operators, and local business associations. No sunset clause or periodic parliamentary review mechanism exists to assess whether this body delivers value relative to its costs.

Establishes the Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board as a regional tourism organisation for City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian, effective from 1st April 1996, replacing and winding up existing area tourist organisations.

Creates a government-mandated regional tourism monopoly that distorts market competition in the hospitality and tourism sector. Tourist boards of this nature crowd out private sector coordination, direct visitors toward favoured businesses, and represent a form of regulatory capture. Tourism promotion can be entirely achieved through private hotels, travel operators, chambers of commerce, and civil society organisations without taxpayer subsidy or state direction. The consolidation of multiple existing tourist organisations into a single government body reduces competition and choice for visitors.

Establishes the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board by merging existing area tourist organisations across seven Scottish local authority areas (Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire), with provisions for board constitution, transitional arrangements, and winding up of predecessor bodies.

Creates a government-sponsored tourism body that distorts private market incentives — private hotels, travel operators and venues have stronger profit-driven incentives to promote tourism efficiently. The compulsory winding up of existing organisations eliminates competitive alternatives. Such coordination bodies are unnecessary: the market provides tourism information through travel agents, online platforms and private marketing. Public sector tourism bodies crowd out private provision and are funded by compulsory local authority levies rather than voluntary consumer choice.

This Order establishes the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board by bringing into effect the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board Scheme 1995. It defines key terms, specifies that the Board will serve the Highland local government area from 1st April 1996, and provides for the winding up of existing area tourist organisations. The Order enables the constitution of the new Board and any necessary functions to bring the scheme into operation.

This Order creates a statutory monopoly body for Highland tourism governance, eliminating the competitive market for tourism promotion services that existed through multiple area tourist organisations. The mandatory winding up of existing Boards and replacement with a single state-established body removes consumer choice and competitive alternatives that could better serve visitors through innovation and varied offerings. No compelling case exists for why market forces or voluntary coordination cannot provide tourism promotion services more efficiently than a government-mandated monopoly.

This Order establishes the Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board, a regional governmental body for tourism promotion in Fife, Scotland. It sets out the Board's constitution, transfers functions from existing area tourist organisations being wound up, and provides for the Board to become operational from 1st April 1996. The Order is a local government reorganisation instrument under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994.

This Order creates a government-sponsored regional tourism monopoly funded by public expenditure, distorting the tourism market by having the state compete with private hospitality businesses. Post-Brexit, Britain should be reducing, not maintaining, regional development bodies and tourism bureaucracies. Private destination marketing organisations operate successfully in competing jurisdictions without public subsidy, demonstrating this is not a genuine public good requiring state provision. The winding-up of existing boards consolidates state control over tourism rather than liberalising the sector.

The Orkney Tourist Board Scheme Order 1995 establishes the Orkney Tourist Board as a statutory body to oversee tourism promotion and related functions for the Orkney Islands local government area. It sets out the Board's constitution, transitional arrangements from existing area tourist organisations, and operational timeline (coming into force August 1995, scheme effective April 1996).

Tourist boards represent government intervention in an activity that markets handle efficiently. Private businesses in Orkney (hotels, tour operators, restaurants) have strong commercial incentives to promote the region without a statutory body. This regulation creates bureaucratic overhead, misallocates resources through political rather than market mechanisms, and crowds out potential private-sector tourism coordination. The stated coordination benefits can be achieved through voluntary private-sector bodies such as chambers of commerce or industry associations, which respond to actual market demand rather than government planning.

Establishes the Perthshire Tourist Board for the local government area of Perthshire and Kinross, effective 31st August 1995, with operational effect from 1st April 1996. Provides for winding up of existing area tourist organisations and sets out transitional arrangements for constitution and functions.

Tourist boards are publicly funded bureaucratic bodies that distort resource allocation in the tourism sector. Private enterprise, hospitality associations, and local chambers of commerce are better positioned to promote tourism through voluntary coordination. This Order implements a government-mandated monopoly structure for regional tourism governance that限制了竞争和私人部门的创新空间。促进旅游业的最佳方式是通过市场机制，而非行政命令设立公共机构。

Establishes the Scottish Borders Tourist Board as a statutory body for promoting tourism in the Scottish Borders region, setting out governance arrangements, transitional provisions from existing area tourist organisations, and operational commencement dates (1 April 1996).

Creates a government-sponsored tourist board where private enterprise could more efficiently promote tourism. Such bodies represent taxpayer-funded competition with private hospitality, travel, and leisure industries that have direct financial incentives to attract visitors. The regulatory burden and public expenditure on this quango-style body distorts market signals and could be replaced by voluntary private-sector marketing consortia. Post-Brexit regulatory reform should eliminate arms-length bodies that duplicate what the market can provide more dynamically.

This Order establishes the Shetland Tourist Board as a statutory body for the Shetland Islands local government area, with the scheme taking effect from 1 April 1996. It defines key terms ('the Board', 'the scheme', 'existing Board'), provides for the constitution and functions of the Board, and addresses the winding up of predecessor area tourist organisations. The Order enables government-coordinated tourism promotion for the Shetland Islands region.

Statutory tourism boards are an unnecessary government intervention that crowds out private-sector tourism promotion. The market, through private hotels, travel operators, and business improvement districts, can coordinate tourism marketing more efficiently. This Order creates a bureaucratic body with potential for rent-seeking and political allocation of resources. The public goods argument for tourism coordination is weak — private entities have strong incentives to promote their region, and digital platforms have largely solved coordination problems that might have justified such bodies in the past. Deletion would allow organically-formed private sector initiatives to emerge, reducing public expenditure and increasing innovation in tourism promotion.

This Order establishes the Western Isles Tourist Board for the local government area of the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland), effective 1st April 1996. It sets out the Board's constitution, transfers functions from predecessor organisations, and provides for the winding up of existing area tourist organisations. The Order operationalises a scheme contained in its Schedule.

Tourist boards are government-sponsored promotional bodies that distort market signals in what should be a private, competitive industry. Private operators, travel platforms, and hospitality businesses have inherent incentives to promote Scotland's attractions without taxpayer funding. This Order perpetuates a statist structure that picks winners in the tourism market, redirects resources toward political priorities rather than genuine demand, and creates institutional inertia that resists adaptation to changing travel patterns. The unintended consequences include reduced innovation in tourism promotion, misallocated scarce public resources, and suppression of private alternatives that could more efficiently serve visitors. At minimum, this Order should be deleted and any legitimate functions reconsidered through more market-friendly mechanisms or left entirely to private enterprise.

The Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 1995 establish the fee structure for statutory maritime services including surveys, inspections, certification, and tonnage measurement for merchant ships. They revoke earlier 1991-1994 fee regulations and set out hourly rates (starting at £50), travel time allowances, and a detailed schedule of fees for various shipping certifications and services.

These are cost-recovery fees for statutory services required under international maritime conventions (SOLAS, Load Lines, etc.). Deletion would not make Britons better off — it would simply remove the legal framework for recovering costs of necessary safety certification services, potentially shifting costs to general taxpayers or creating regulatory ambiguity. The fees themselves are transparent and proportionate cost-recovery, not a regulatory burden on trade.