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Ministers are going to miss their deadline to create a plan for a new windfall “charge” to recover some of the vast profits generated when a field is rezoned for housing – because they don’t have the funds to hire outside experts to get the work done.
States Members last year agreed that the Government should introduce some form of charge – such as a tax or levy – to raise revenue from any significant uplift in the value of land arising from when the land is rezoned or from when planning permission has been granted.
Put forward by Reform’s Deputy Raluca Kovacs, the successful proposition required Ministers to come forward with plans for new legislation by 31 March 2025.
At the time of putting forward her proposition, Deputy Kovacs gave the example of Field J1109 in St John. It sold for £3.55m after it was designated an affordable-homes site. She said her aim was not to raise "token amounts of money to fund bus shelters or plant a few trees", but to allow the public a "share in the uplift of land value".
However, that plan suffered a setback when the previous Government decided against funding it in their spending plans for 2024 and beyond.
Pictured: Deputy Raluca Kovacs' request for Government to bring forward a charging mechanism got strong backing from States Members.
"...This work will remain pending until such time that resources are made available to enable it to be undertaken," Deputy Steve Luce, who became Environment Minister after the change of government following January’s no-confidence vote, said in the spring.
However, it’s now emerged that the new Government will not be making resources available to progress the plan either.
Pictured:
The current Government argues that the preparatory work is complex – including revisiting analysis undertaken when a similar concept was considered and shelved in 2017 and developing a “legal and policy framework” – and cannot not be completed in-house.
“Carrying out this work would require the engagement of consultant support,” he said in response to a question from his predecessor, Deputy Jonathan Renouf.
He said that the it had “not been possible to reprioritise other resources without negatively impacting other Ministerial objectives” and that work on the levy was therefore “pending until such a time where resources can be made available”, meaning the March deadline will be missed.
All areas of the Government have been under pressure to make savings and cutbacks for the proposed 2025 Budget.
Ministers have been instructed to significantly reduce their use of consultants, and a nine-month recruitment freeze on posts attracting salaries between between £65,805 and £73,364 (Grade 11) has also been ordered. Earlier this month, cuts to the Government's communications unit saw the closure of the central Press Office and the redeployment or redundancy of at least 11 staff members.
Meanwhile, several large capital projects due to be undertaken by Government have been delayed, cancelled or unfunded as a result – including plans for a new secondary school at Mont à L’Abbé, a specialist accommodation facility for islanders with learning difficulties, and the refurbishment of the crematorium.
Other areas will see budget cuts – such as Jersey Finance, which is due to have a £400,000 reduction in its annual grant despite protests from the Minister with responsibility for financial services.
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