The heads of the government’s flagship regeneration companies are launching a public revolt against empty property rates.
The chief executives of
This week, a senior URC figure told EG that the end of empty rate relief posed “serious problems” for the regeneration of some of the country’s most deprived areas.
Chairman of the URC Chief Executive Committee John Nicholls said: “In areas of market weakness, where projects are by definition marginal, this will increase the requirement for public funding to make development happen.”
Nicholls, who is also chief executive of the Leicester Regeneration Co, added: “The credit crunch has meant that a lot of sites assembled by residential developers are not being taken forward but are being demolished to avoid the tax. Swathes of
The public revolt by the URCs – which are funded by local authorities, regional development agencies and the Department for Communities and Local Government through regeneration body English Partnerships – will pile further pressure on the government to declare an amnesty in URC-controlled areas (see box).
Nicholls said that the group sent a letter, signed by all 19 members, to the government in May 2007 outlining the issues with the empty property tax. Their concerns were dismissed.
“While the letter referred to difficulties in the then relatively buoyant market, it was concerned about the much greater impact of empty rates if there were a downturn, which of course is now the case,” said Nicholls. “As well as making the overall picture more difficult, this has exacerbated the ‘pre-emptive demolition’ problem.”
In Wiltshire,
The owners of empty property have been hit with full business rates since April this year. Offices and shops previously received 50% relief, while industrial property was exempt.
The British Property Federation has campaigned against the change and least 35 MPs – mainly Labour backbenchers – have signed a House of Commons motion calling for relief to be given to businesses and landlords.
DCLG said it would consider any evidence of harm presented to it by the BPF and would ask local authorities to feed back the regional effects of the tax in September.