Posts Tagged ‘London’

Boris Is Wrong

Monday, July 28th, 2014

Heathrow: Davies Commission

As much as we like Boris Johnson, just one look at any road/rail map of the UK shows that he is clearly wrong about Heathrow. The massing of infrastructure and economic activity to the west of London in terms of rail links, both to Central London and the rest of the UK, as well as road links with the M4 and M3 corridors, positions Heathrow perfectly as the location for a UK hub airport. That is why it is there.  In 2018, Crossrail will link west with east – so surely it’s time for a Great British compromise? (more…)

HS2 is just not costing enough. That is the big problem

Thursday, May 8th, 2014

…And another thing: it is not taking enough Tory Voters’ housing.

The project as scoped is in fact incomplete. The end result is that arguments for the project itself are incomplete. Effectively, the project process itself has become the debate, as our short termist political system is not fit to manage long-term land use. (more…)

Jonathan Naughton response to Mark Prisk

Friday, January 31st, 2014

Mark,

Your opinion piece for Property Week (24 January) raises some interesting questions about how taxation of property could evolve from the current rating system.

You asked what is the difference in activity between a warehouse operated by Amazon and a “click and collect” store run by Argos? (more…)

Mark Prisk – Fifty-year-old rating system is showing its age

Friday, January 24th, 2014

Original article can be found on the Property Week website here

Being a fixed overhead, business rates don’t reflect the changing fortunes of a company. So when there’s a downturn, the rates bill bites even harder.

However, for government — central and local — this makes business rates attractive. While other tax revenues rise and fall with the economy, business rates provide the public sector with a steady flow of revenue — currently £26bn. So all governments are very wary of tinkering with the system. (more…)