Mar 30 2007
The Construction Products Association (CPA) says that despite all the expectations that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer would deliver a budget to encourage environmental efficiency, the measures outlined fall well short of what is needed to address the climate change issues and deliver a more sustainable future.
Speaking after the budget announcement, Michael Ankers, CPA Chief Executive
said: “There is an urgent need to make existing buildings more energy efficient, but the Chancellor has missed a great opportunity to provide financial incentives to achieve this. Whilst plans to exempt new zero-carbon homes costing up to £500,000 from stamp duty are to be welcomed, these are very modest measures given the scale of what has to be achieved with the overwhelming majority of existing homes – new homes only account for 1% of total stock in any given year. An incremental improvement to the energy efficiency of existing homes of 1% each year would more than outweigh the environmental benefits produced by building all new housing to zero carbon.
“The Government must develop its strategy to make the existing building stock more energy efficient if it is serious about reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency. There are a number of ways to help all householders improve energy efficiency, but this budget has done little to encourage any improvements. The financial grants to help pensioners insulate their homes may be good for their quality of life, but this is a social policy, when what is needed is a strategy to reduce emissions from all the existing housing stock."
Turning to the issues in the budget aimed at improving business competitiveness Michael Ankers said: “It is unlikely to deliver significant wins for UK Plc – despite the cut in Corporation Tax to 28%, but we welcome the measures in the Budget to assist industry competitiveness. We are pleased to see the Government remains committed to reducing red tape through simplification of the tax system and are particularly pleased that Corporation Tax has been cut; however the rises in taxation for smaller firms mean the overall fiscal burden on businesses has not been significantly reduced by this budget”.