Alternative Investigations Articles (miscellaneous) Bits & Pieces Books Events Faithful Friends (animals section) Footsteps
GROUND BREAKING CONFERENCE
PROVES A BIG SUCCESS
On Thursday 24th October 2002, the Mayor of London's new City Hall, played host to Urban Regeneration: A Fresh Approach, a conference designed to explore a new way forward for delivering an urban renaissance in the UK.
Over 130 Delegates, drawn from all parts of the community and three continents listened to a wide range of speakers in a political environment increasingly open to the idea that land rents would be the best funding mechanism to create a just and equitable society.
Co-organised by the Henry George Foundation and the Land Value Taxation Campaign the conference debated how 'community created land values' can be used to fund urban regeneration. Post conference feedback has revealed it was a considerable success with delegates registering high approval ratings and welcoming further events on the topic.
Peter Gibb, Chief Executive of the Henry George Foundation and conference speaker said this week " Our efforts to build bridges to the outside world is paying dividends. The Foundation's message is resonating in more and more areas of public and professional concern. Last week's conference is an excellent example of how the Foundation's work is professionalising - and how it's becoming much more effective. We believe our approach is the way forward for all those who would advocate the application of rent for public purposes."
Dave Wetzel, Vice Chair of Transport for London and conference chair for the day also was upbeat " The conference was an original approach to the regeneration debate. It was also noticeable during the debates how many leading figures in private and government circles are taking a real interest in land value taxation and the role it could play in the regeneration of the economy. As well as finding the day very useful many delegates asked for another conference to be held to discuss the issues in more depth ".
A report commissioned, by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and published by ATIS Real Weatheralls ( a leading property consultancy in the UK) into the impact of new transport infrastructure on land values, was exclusively revealed to the conference. They will now set up a pilot study in Croydon, South London to asses the impact of the new tram link on the value of land holdings. Jeremy Edge of ATIS Real Weatheralls told the conference that their brief did not extend to piloting or investigating a land tax. However he did recognise that the study could be used to justify a levy to fund infrastructure, such as the London Crossrail project.
One of the highlights of the day was the presence of Sir Joe Dwyer, Chairman of Liverpool Vision and former chief of Wimpey Homes, Ted Gwartney, Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, ( here in his capacity as Bridgeport assessor ) and Bob Kiley, Transport Commissioner for London. All speaking in the same session.
Sir Joe Dwyer's speech made the situation in the UK very clear " There isn't a land scarcity, there's an artificial land scarcity. It's simply a direct result of land speculation and hoarding ". He concluded " Should land value tax be introduced into the UK, then in terms of impact there is no greater example than the UK housing market, with huge benefits in releasing the housing market from the grip of the high inflationary aspects of land speculation and hoarding ".
Bob Kiley is a supporter of Tax Incremental Financing ( TIF) . Based on his experience in the US he considers TIF a suitable mechanism to capture land value increases in London. He concluded " Full land value taxation may not happen in the near term but we may have an opportunity here to take an important step forward toward that goal through some variation on the tax increment financing scheme and in so doing we will have made a crucial investment in the future of London ".
Earlier in the day the conference heard from a number of supporters of our work. Dr Tim Jenkins, Research Co-ordinator from Friends of The Earth, the UK's leading environmental campaign group and Darren Johnston former Green Party London Mayoral Candidate, both made the case for environmental tax reform through the use of land value taxation.
Don Riley, author of Taken For A Ride and property developer also presented his ideas on capturing land values. In his book he argues the £3.5 billion cost of the Jubilee Line Extension to London's Tube could easily have been paid for via some fiscal claw back mechanism, based on the benefits landowners had received. Don's solution, as he made very clear to delegates, was not a tax but an Infrastructure Renewal Levy ( IRL )
Tony Vickers gave his personal perspective, based on his experience of working in Liverpool on the Smart Tax/LVT project. Speaking after the conference he said "This conference did a great deal to improve the understanding of leaders of the property industry that LVT is pro-development, pro-enterprise".
The final session chaired by Author, Antonia Swinson featured Peter Gibb, and David Mills of the Land Value Taxation Campaign. As you would both speakers backed calls for the policy of land rents as public revenue.
Other speakers on the day included David Lock, Chair of Town and Country Planning Association who strongly welcomed the staging on the event, Joyce Mamode of London Buses, Dr Roy Douglas of Surrey University and Henry Law a Conservation Planner.
A transcript of the day's proceedings and papers will be available from the Henry George Foundation in the next few weeks. If readers would like a copy or more details about the conference ( biographies of speakers, programme etc) please contact Paul Brandon at p.brandon@henrygeorgefoundation.org
END
Paul Brandon
Deputy Chief Executive
Henry George Foundation
427 London Fruit Exchange
Brushfield St London E1 6EL
Tel 020 7377 8885 Fax 020 7377 8686
