Apr 18 2005
The Liberal Democrats have published their manifesto for the General Election. Among the key points of most interest to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) are:
- Raising the starting point for Stamp Duty from £120,000 to £150,000
- Reforming VAT to encourage developers to repair and reuse empty buildings and brownfield land
- Reducing VAT on historic building repairs
- Changing the Climate Change Levy into a Carbon Tax to discourage the use of polluting fuels and energy sources
- Strengthening tax incentives to create more energy-efficient homes, reduce domestic waste, promote recycling and introducing measures to reduce energy use such as home insulation
- Making public sector land currently owned by the Ministry of Defence, Department of Health and English Partnerships available to build 100,000 new homes for rent and affordable purchase
- Returning strategic planning roles to county councils
- Requiring planning permission to change full-time homes to holiday homes
- Investing in modern, high quality college facilities to deliver high-quality skills training
- Tackling causes of ill-health such as poor housing
- Scrapping the Department of Trade and Industry
Commenting on the Liberal Democrat manifesto, RIBA President George Ferguson said:
“The Liberal Democrats have sought to run a green thread of environmental awareness through their thinking and I congratulate them for placing a strong emphasis on climate change and the built environment in their manifesto. They also recognise the link between design quality and better housing and public services.
“Many of the measures proposed by the Liberal Democrats – such as VAT reform, fiscal incentives to encourage environmental responsibility and using public land to pioneer sustainable neighbourhoods – are in the RIBA’s own Manifesto for Architecture which we recently published. We believe, however, that they have missed an opportunity to go further still – for example by linking Stamp Duty relief to sustainable new homes. A better built environment requires imaginative solutions and strong, joined-up leadership.”