Property

posing the land plans

Geoffrey Wilson

In the flurry of comment on Labour's nationalisation intentions for industry what has so far.

gone dangerously unrecognised in parliamentary Opposition circles is the extension of doctrinaire changes implicit in the proposals set out in Anthony Crosland's White Paper, Land (Comnd, 5730).

Under the innocuous guise of enabling better control of the development of land by the

community, a system is proposed whivch, were it

to come into effect, would in real terms mean that an absolute power of extraordinary magnitude would pass into the hands of small groups of local authority councillors. There can be little doubt that, once this had taken place, within a short space of time planning decisions in Labour-controlled boroughs would become predominantly political. One would be hard up to imagine that in such areas consent would be forthcoming for the construction of health or education facilities outside the state schemes; more significantly it would not be long before industrialists seeking to build new factories would first have to obtain.the local authority's approval to the subject of their manufacture and give assurances that exports would be politically orientated in acceptable directions.

Doubtless, too, potential office users would soon have to conform with similarly ordained 'needs and priorities.' In short the foundations of rational and economic land use through the initiative of companies and individuals would be replaced by the doctrinaire dictates of local planning committees.

The second main objective of the White Paper proposals is the garnering for 'the.

community' of the accretion in value when land is permitted to be developed or redeveloped.

The chosen method is to lay a duty on local authorities to acquire all land required for private development, after which no develop ment will be allowed to begin except on land owned by a public authority or made available by them. The authors of the White Paper then clearly tacitly assume that, in buying at existing-use value and selling or leasing on with the additional advantage of redevelopment consent, substantial profits will automatically accrue to the local authorities. This could be the case but it is also equally true that the profitability or otherwise of a land bank operation turns in essence on the timing of buying and selling and most importantly the incidence of interest charges in the interim period.

In addition, recent events have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt land and property

The

Spectator December 7, 1974 values can drop dramatically as well as cIiffl However, the White Paper regrettably fails to, mention that its formula will h,ave the-effect '31 ultimately propelling every local authority in the country into an area of high commercial risk; and it then makes no reference to the basic question of how the land purchases are to be. funded in the first place. At a time when local authorities are striving to cut back spending scheme. What,do not add credibility to the What, then, is envisaged is a bureaucratic intervention on a massive scale. The market mechanism as we know it will disappear, 112 more will buyer or seller be able to seek ea c" other out according to their wants and strike bargain between them but vendors will be able to sell only to the Town Hall and buyers to btlY, only from it. Thus in an essentially commercial situation where urgency and flexibility are at a premium we are asked to believe that an incentiveless bureaucracy (incidentally, yet be recruited) made up of individuals large', without direct responsibility to the public can cope efficiently with the task, For those vi,h, e„ do not share a blind faith in the practicalltY and economic efficacy of officialdom the cost lode the nation of such an exercise is intlee daunting. Possibly such a' system could be Ingical,.,13; advanced were there no other method securing for the state the profits from land thee" can undoubtedly arise through changes in lts e consent to develop etc, but this can be dtle cheaply_ and straightforwardly through existing taxation system with the addeo advantage that tax rates can be adjusted liar dampen or stimulate the activity in a parti,5„.11pet sector as required. At the same time, in u",:js, opposition to the White Paper proP0s",_ orthodox fiscal methods' underwrite the "'it, tinued stimulus, initiative and menlenttil, necessary to ensure that building actlYe continues in broadly ,the measure that wro demands of housing, industry and comnler" dictate. These then are the threats and shortcornalt but will the Opposition respond?At the pre the time an unhealthy reticence hangs overrs parliamentary Tory Party whenever Ine`',.7ed relating to land or development are Optic:: is upon. For too many Tories, where propertY„od concerned, silence is equated with safetY 'of few would doubt that the promoters tiis Labour's land plans are relying on t pe embarrassed attitude to ensure an easy PasSe°

for their proposals. ad

This stance must be altered; if in the past la is has been elusive to the legislative touch le exactly because short-sighted policies anne,uper quick popularity with the electorate have u`,,. preferred to objective analysis of root cause'_t

Why do we have to wait until after the eveeny

to discover that a vast boost in the 111°11ttie supply will, if uncontrolled, find its way intdoing property market and send prices sPill upwards?. Is it really unforeseeable that A by uelf5 , j supply of offices in our capital city is reduce''to p government decree to a trickle the Pert, j rc1 unsatisfied demand will push rents to atisoat levels? Should it be strange when our flP.is' enie insurance companies and institutions re .0, no governmental discouragement from vesting themselves wholesale of vast nu,_ly of blocks of residential flats, that sn,?„.' afterwards their erstwhile tenants find selves in the hands of the flat-breakers? an With more forethought these situat1ons40 many others, could have been avoided. r floe now on political expediency must be put to 'Joe side and land policies emphatically receive The detailed prior analysis that they deserve,:hiess first step in this direction must be the fur the exposure from the Opposition benches 'ff dangerous and doctrinaire implications 0 Crosland's White Paper proposals. r of Geoffrey Wilson has been managing direct° erl a public property company for the past rift' years