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.”
