(http://www.sustainable-build.com/)
Chancellor George Osborne’s
Budget 2104, presented to Parliament on Wednesday, marks the death of the
“Greenest Government ever”, as he put saving energy costs for energy intensive,
manufacturing industries, proposed a new garden city in Kent’s flood plain and
announced paltry support of half a million pounds to assist more house
construction.
Housing and planning
The Budget “Red Book”* claims that as
a result of government reforms to date, planning approvals and housing starts “are
at 5 year highs, and housing activity recently expanded at its fastest rate for
10 years.”
Housing supply will
be assisted by £500 million Builders
Finance Fund, to support SME access to finance, which ministers hope will
provide loans to developers to unlock 15,000 housing units stalled due to
difficulty in accessing finance.
Communities
housing minister Kris Hopkins told Labour MP Chi Onwurah in a written answer on 19 March (Official Report, Column 601W) “
told There is growing interest in self build housing which has many advantages.
It can be an affordable route to home ownership, providing home owners with the
opportunity to own a bespoke and sustainably designed high quality home. It
also creates significant opportunities for smaller and medium sized home
builders.”
He added that “The Government supports individuals and communities who
want to build their own homes. This includes identifying 12 sites for self
build as part of our surplus public sector land disposal programme; making £30
million available through our Custom Build Homes fund to provide; short-term
project finance for group (multi-unit) self build projects and introducing an
exemption for self builders from the Community Infrastructure Levy. We will
also shortly be consulting on removing small scale housing projects from having
to pay costly section 106 obligations.)
The National Planning Policy Framework asks
local authorities to assess the demand for people who wish to build their own
homes and make provision for this in their development plans.
The government will also establish
a £150 million fund “to kick start the regeneration
of large housing estates through repayable loans, helping to boost housing
supply.”
The Red Book
says “Bids will shortly be invited from private sector developers,
working with local authorities on estates that might be able to benefit,” ands
reveals that following the Autumn
Statement, expressions of interest have already been made through the
Greater London Authority relating to the Aylesbury Estate, Blackwall Reach and
Grahame Park regeneration projects in London.
Emphasis on SE England development
(GLA) to develop proposals
for extending the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to Barking Riverside, and to ensure
that any public investment unlocks the construction of up to 11,000 new homes,
the Red Book reveals.It will also work with the
GLA and the London Borough of Barnet to look at proposals for the Brent Cross
regeneration scheme, “subject to value for money and affordability.”
The Budget confirmed a pre-released plan to support a new Garden City at Ebbsfleet in Nortrh Kent. Ebbsfleet has capacity for up to 15,000 new homes, based on existing brownfield land, the Red Book argues, pointing out to date, under 150 homes have been built on the largest site. The Budget announced that the Government will form a dedicated Urban Development Corporation for the area, in consultation with local MPs, councils and residents, to drive forward the creation of Ebbsfleet Garden City, and will make up to £200 million of infrastructure funding available to kick start development.
No mention is made of the
sustainability of building or of green architecture SUDs and other
sustainability measure, although, as I tis to be a garden city, these will by a
key aspect of the development. It will represent the first new garden city
since Welwyn Garden City in 1920.
The Government will also
publish a prospectus, by Easter 2014, setting out how local authorities could develop
their own, locally-led proposals for bringing forward new garden cities.
Reform of the
planning system
The Budget announces it will review the General Permitted Development Order - based on
a three-tier system to decide the appropriate level of permission - using permitted development rights for
small-scale changes, prior approval rights for development requiring
consideration of specific issues, and planning permission for the largest scale
development.
Building change of use
The Budget announces ministers also plan to consult
on specific change of use measures, including greater flexibilities for change to
residential use, for example from warehouses and light industry structures, to allowing
businesses greater flexibilities to expand facilities such as car parks and
loading bays within existing boundaries, where there is little impact on local communities.
It is unknown whether SUDS and permeable paving will be a requirement in such
developments.
Blue energy
Extensive lobbying by the manufacturing sector have won a
series of number of concessions in the Budget with package worth in total a
£7bn to cut energy bills in energy intensive industries, that will put a cap on
green taxes and ring-fence companies from renewable energy
subsidy costs, which have risen.
The carbon levy tax, the Carbon Price floor, introduced only last year by the Chancellor more
than £2bn by 2018. The price floor rate was due to rise from £9.55 in April to
just over £18 from 2015.
Friends of the Earth said the Budget
represented a “caving in to big business lobbying on pollution tax”.
Infrastructure initiatives
The Budget announced
£140m of funding to rebuild recently damaged flood defences, and in a move that
will assist transport infrastructure,
also unveiled a £200m pot to repair millions potholes across Britain’s
roads, experts were underwhelmed by the paucity of fresh proposals to rebuild
the UK’s transport, energy and social infrastructure.
The flood protection fund complements, the
Red Book argues, “the Government’s long term strategy, which in Spending Round
2013 allocated capital funding of £2.3 billion from 2015, allowing an increase
in annual investment of 15% in real terms on that over the current spending
period, even with the extra short-term funding allocated in this Budget.”
The government is developing a long-term plan
that will direct this investment to protect the country from future flooding
and will publish this in the autumn, the Red Book adds.
Business support
The Red Book says that “To
further support innovative start-ups and early stage companies to invest in
research and development, the government will raise the
rate of the R&D tax credit payable to loss making small and medium sized
companies from 11% to 14.5% from April 2014.” It adds that over the
next 5 years this increase will support £1.3 billion of investment in
innovation.
The Red Book also states “This
Budget announces a package of reforms to
radically reduce the costs
of energy policy for business – particularly in manufacturing – while improving
security of supply and maintaining the government’s ambition to increase
renewable generation. This package will benefit every household, business and
region in the country saving a total of up to £7 billion by 2018-19. This will
particularly benefit the most energy intensive manufacturers, around 80% of
which are based in the North of England, Scotland and Wales.”
Tom Crotty, director of chemicals giant Ineos, said: “We have been crying out
for this for some time, so it’s good to see the Government responding. The
carbon floor freeze gives us some investment certainty, though not for as long
as we’d like, and we’re pleased to see they’ve listened on combined heat and
power plants. It’s important for the chemicals industry because we’ve all got
them.”
But these
measures did not finfd favour with the Renewable
Energy Association, whose chief executive Nina Skorupska complained “By freezing the carbon price floor, the
Chancellor is rowing back on his own policy and once again moving the goalposts
for investors in green energy.”
Science investment
£19m support was announced to support
research, demonstration and deployment of the so-called wonder material graphene, whose early research has
centered on Manchester University. It
has attracted academic and
commercial interest for its
high-performance electrical, thermal and mechanical properties.
Mr
Osborne said: “So we will
establish new centres for Graphene – a great British discovery that we should
break the habit of a lifetime with and commercially develop in Britain.”
The funding for research graphene will go
through the Catapult network, the
UK’s elite technology and innovation centres.
Labour leader, Ed Miliband responding
to the Chancellor’s speech, said bluntly: “We needed a Budget today that would
have made the long-term changes that our economy needs, in housing, banking and
energy.”
Labour MP Derek Twigg, commented: “The Chancellor mentioned support for the energy-intensive
manufacturing industry. To date, this has been a major failure. I have been
lobbied rigorously by companies in my constituency about the Government’s
failure, and I have also lobbied the Government regularly.”
Ian Swales, Liberal
democrat MP for heavy-industrial heartland, Redcar, observed: “ I am pleased about the measures on energy-intensive
industries. My constituency has not only a steel industry, but a large chemical
complex. The employers will welcome those moves. I also welcome the moves on
combined heat and power plants, which are relevant to my constituency. All
those measures will help Britain to be more competitive and they are certainly
needed.)
He was challenged by Green MP
Caroline Lucas who said: “The Lib Dems used to pride themselves on their green
policies, so I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman is equally happy that the
Government are hell-bent on getting every last drop of oil out of the ground,
as the Chancellor said?” Mr Swales menacing responded:”I am disappointed that,
having given way to {her], she took
quite a lot of my time. I will see her outside the Chamber with the answers to
those questions.”
Former Conservative trade and
industry secretary, John Redwood said “I am pleased that the Chancellor made some moves on energy. …The first
thing we need to do to have such a recovery is to ignore the advice of the
Green MP, and to go for cheap energy.”
Another Conservative MP, David Mowat, representing the industrial area of south Warrington, said “Some 900,000 people work in energy-intensive industries
in our country, and I sometimes think they are forgotten in our dialogue about
energy prices. It is worth understanding that what the Chancellor has done is
remove the straitjacket on costs, which would have put a great deal of those
jobs at risk. ..I am surprised that a number of Opposition Members are not more
exercised about this issue in general, given that they represent parts of the
north-east, where there is heavy chemical manufacturing, and there are a lot of
energy-intensive industries and a lot of jobs, because we cannot rebalance our
economy back towards manufacturing if we have differentially high energy prices
in this country.”
Natalie
Bennett, leader of the
Green Party, writing in the Independent on Thursday suggested Mr Osborne's
has simply returned us “to a worse model of 2006,” described the chancellor’s
new policy on carbon taxes as “retrograde”, and called instead for carbon taxes
to pay for the provision of energy efficiency measures to lift nine out of 10
households out of fuel poverty, create up to 200,000 jobs, and cut carbon
emissions.
Carbon price floor: reform
This Tax
Information and Impact Note explains the capping of the Carbon Price Support
rate to £18 per tonne of carbon dioxide (t/CO2) from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
Document
PDF, 39.7KB, 4
pages
Detail
The Carbon
Price Support (CPS) rates of Climate Change Levy (CCL) apply to fossil fuels
used in electricity generation that are taxed under the CCL regime (gas, solid
fuels and liquefied petroleum gas). The CPS rates of fuel duty apply to oils
and biofuels used in electricity generation.
The UK-only
element of the carbon price floor will be capped at £18 per tonne of carbon
dioxide (t/CO2) from 2016-17 to 2019-20. This will have the effect of freezing
the CPS rates for each of the individual taxable commodities across this period
at around 2015-16 levels.
Business Premises Renovation
Allowance
This Tax
Information and Impact Note explains the type of expenditure that qualifies for
relief under Business Premises Renovation Allowance.
Document
PDF, 36KB, 3
pages
Detail
Legislation
will be introduced in Finance Bill 2014 to amend Part 3A of CAA 2001 to clarify
the scope of the expenditure that qualifies for Business Premises Renovation
Allowance.
National Infrastructure Plan:
finance update
An
infrastructure finance update was published alongside Budget 2014.
Document
Ref: ISBN
978-1-909790-88-9, PU1656 PDF, 277KB, 24 pages
Detail
This update
provides further information on how the economic infrastructure investment
planned over the coming years is expected to be financed – defining the nature
and extent of the potential investment opportunity to 2020.
Progress report
on the Spending Review 2010 commitment to reduce the burden of regulation on
housebuilders.
Documents
Ref: ISBN
9781409841821 PDF, 272KB, 10 pages
If you use
assistive technology and need a version of this document in a more accessible
format please email alternativeformats@communities.gsi.gov.uk quoting your address, telephone number
along with the title of the publication ("Spending Review 2010:
housebuilder deregulation commitment: table").
Detail
In the Spending Review of 2010, the government made a commitment to
reduce the burden of regulation on housebuilders. This report is an update on
progress in delivering that commitment.
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