Wandsworth council is close to clinchinga deal with London mayor Boris Johnson to allow developers to escape his controversial Crossrail levy in exchange for a contribution to the extension of the Tube.
Leader of the council Edward Lister said that the agreement would mean that developers in the 450-acre Nine Elms opportunity zone, which include Battersea Power Station owner Treasury Holdings and Ballymore, would no longer face the threat of a double tax.
Under Johnson’s regime, a £19.80 per sq ft tax is being levied on all new development within 10 miles of Westminster.
For the more than 100acres of land that has already been earmarked for development at Nine Elms, this could resultin a total tax burden around £400m.
The Crossrail levy would have been in addition to contributions to Transport for London,to fund the extension of the Northern line from Kennington to Battersea.
A spokesman for Treasury Holdings said that there was an “unequivocal need” for transport improvement in the area, and that the company had submitted various funding models.
A spokesman for the mayor said: “The Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area planning framework is currently being consulted upon. An approach [to infrastructure funding and implementation] has yet to be agreed.”
The Urban Land Institute has called for the Nine Elms zone to become the pioneer of the US model of tax incremental financing to fund infrastructure works. TIF, which lets councils raise cash by the sale of bondswhichare later repaid via rises in business rates, has been used in the US for 50 years.
