A YORK sports club is challenging the Inland Revenue in a tax case which could have nationwide implications.

York Cricket and Rugby Union Club wants to avoid the prospect of a crippling financial bill which could force its closure and that of hundreds of similar clubs up and down the country.

The club is challenging the system under which the Valuation Office, part of the Inland Revenue's department, assesses the rateable value of amateurs' sports grounds and clubhouses.

Two years ago, the Civil Services Sports Club, in Boroughbridge Road, had to close because it did not have the money to pay its business rates.

Now the Shipton Road-based cricket and rugby club has gone to an independent valuation tribunal in an attempt to get its £15,290 rateable value reduced. The rateable value is the amount the property could have been let for.

Amateur sports clubs in York, including the Shipton Road club, currently get 100 per cent business rate relief from the Government and council.

But the honorary secretary of the York Cricket and Rugby Union Club, Chris Houseman, warned that the situation might not last.

"Valuations are forever, concessions from politicians can only be regarded as temporary," he told the tribunal.

Mr Houseman said the club's rateable value was unrealistically high and if the club ever had to pay business rates it would struggle.

He claimed valuation officers did not use hard facts to set sports clubs' rateable values, but instead relied on their own assessment of their potential rentable value and the rateable values of other clubs nearby. Both he and the Valuation Office agreed there was very little evidence about actual rentable values of sports clubs.

Valuation officer Terry Wilkinson said the rateable value of the club's site was comparable with that of others in the area, and quoted values ranging from £10,750 for Acomb Sports Club to £42,000 for the Dunnington and Grimston Sports and Social Club. The Civil Service Sports Club site's value was £19,500 in 2000.

All the values had been either agreed by the club concerned or the club had not objected, said Mr Wilkinson.

But Mr Houseman produced letters which he said showed two clubs disagreed with their rating, and the reason other clubs did not go before a tribunal was because they did not pay business rates, not that they agreed with the assessment.

The Shipton Road club has about 700 adult members, 400 junior members, five fields, two cricket squares and tennis and squash courts on about 20 acres (eight hectares).

The tribunal will deliver its judgement next month.

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, April 22, 2004