The British Property Federation has attacked government proposals on planning gain as “yet another stealth tax”.
Outgoing BPF director general Will McKee slated the consultation paper published on 19 December. He said: “The government has it wrong. The paper proposes all the things we didnt want planning gain to become. It is shifting the tax burden for social improvements on to the property industry.
“The government is in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. It seems to have forgotten that property is a global enterprise. Companies dont have to take this – they can go elsewhere.”
The reforms will introduce a tariff, set by individual local authorities, for development to pay for affordable housing and local improvements and would be applied to all commercial development over 200 sq m and all residential development over 150 sq m.
At present, planning obligations apply only to large developments with big local impact – around 1.5% of planning applications.
The document, Planning Obligations: Delivering a Fundamental Change, states that the government wishes to use planning obligations “as a mechanism to ensure that development provides social, economic and environmental benefits to the community “.
Stephen Robinson, head of planning at GVA Grimley, said: “This breaks the link between planning gain and the local impact of the development.
“Under the guise of ensuring greater transparency, the government has essentially introduced a development tax to pay for affordable housing.”
Gerald Eve planning director Hugh Bullock said: “It is a surprisingly low threshold. It means that anyone putting in an application for a couple of flats will have to pay the tariff.”
EGi News 04/01/02
