Public & Private

Another positive measure, which we believe could aid future regeneration strategies, is the emphasis given to proactive involvement to speed up planning decisions. This will ultimately involve the new regional spatial strategies accounting for volatility in the housing market in their area, with intervention possible where councils are not delivering housing numbers in high-demand areas.

With regard to stamp duty, two Budgets after the first announcement and after receiving European Commission approval, the £150,000 cap on property situated in wards that are designated as disadvantaged will be removed for certain transactions in non-residential property. Also, single contracts for the acquisition of land that comprises six or more separate dwellings will qualify as non-residential despite the fact that the properties may individually be regarded as residential (and may not otherwise have qualified for the relief). This is a positive move.

Short-term leases granted by RSLs on or after 1 January 2000 will be exempt from stamp duty

It is also understood that where an agreement for lease has been entered into before 10 April and the lease is granted on or after 10 April, then the agreement to lease will also benefit from the removal of the cap.

Short-term leases granted by registered social landlords will also be exempt from stamp duty and this will apply retrospectively to tenancy agreements entered into on or after 1 January 2000.

However, we would have liked to have seen more measures in the Budget that responded to owner-occupier participation in regeneration. It was a step in the right direction, but this thorny issue is often at the heart of delays to regeneration plans and needs more attention.

Delivery of sustainable regeneration in areas of deprivation requires investment in both public and private housing as part of any mixed-use project.

The public sector is generally financed through a mixture of government support, usually grants, and private finance from banks and building societies. In contrast, the private sector has more of a struggle in deprived areas. Being financed by the developer, there may be little incentive to undertake such investment where the value of the property is unlikely to increase by at least a similar amount as the cost of the investment.

Further financial resources for New Deal for Communities partnerships and housing market renewal areas would allow them to provide financial support to owner-occupiers in defined regeneration areas, probably on a means-tested basis, to ensure that regeneration happens on a cross tenure basis.