Post by Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd

Land value capture in the planning system is a distraction from the redistributive measures needed to tackle England’s housing crisis 👇 Full story in the comments 👇 A key policy aimed at tackling housing inequalities in England does as much to obscure and sustain them, a Cardiff University report concludes. Academics assessed land value capture (LVC) in the planning system, which aims to redistribute increases in the value of land resulting from development between state, community and private actors. The underlying premise of this policy is that landowners should not retain all of this uplift as it is unearned and is economically inefficient. Under the current framework, a proportion of the increased land values should therefore be redistributed to help pay for affordable housing and public infrastructure. But the policy can be controversial, is prone to gaming by developers and there have therefore been frequent attempts at reform and adjustment over the past few decades under the political pressure of the housing crisis. Based on the last release of the government’s estimates (August 2020), agricultural land outside London granted planning permission for residential development would, on average, increase from around £23,000 per hectare to around £2.67 million per hectare – multiplying in worth by 116. Land now constitutes most of the value of a home in the UK and academics say there is significant scope for more effective redistribution of unearned land values to help pay for public infrastructure. #CardiffUniversity #PrifysgolCaerdydd | Edward Shepherd