UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture

The United Kingdom has had a series of unsuccessful attempts at securing land value capture in 1909, 1947, 1967, and 1975. The 1909 land duties would have taxed increases in land values irrespective of the source. The latter three combined public bodies, acquiring development land with levies on dev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Richard Grover
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Land
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/936
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849711000881725440
author Richard Grover
author_facet Richard Grover
author_sort Richard Grover
collection DOAJ
description The United Kingdom has had a series of unsuccessful attempts at securing land value capture in 1909, 1947, 1967, and 1975. The 1909 land duties would have taxed increases in land values irrespective of the source. The latter three combined public bodies, acquiring development land with levies on developers. For them, value uplift was limited to that arising from the granting of planning consent. None of the measures were fully implemented and were reversed by incoming governments. One of the key problems with value capture policies has been the lack of political consensus. Since 1979, consensus has developed around the use of three types of value capture instruments. Development corporations have been created for the regeneration of local areas by acquiring development land and improving it. Local authorities have been able to use planning obligations and community infrastructure levies to oblige developers to mitigate externalities. Governments have made it clear that these are not to be used as value capture devices and therefore are really applications of the polluter pays principle. Thirdly, there are national taxes that fall on increases in the value of land, namely, business rates, stamp duty land tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax.
format Article
id doaj-art-8c9b8b994a2745f4af74fad26b6e8cf2
institution DOAJ
issn 2073-445X
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Land
spelling doaj-art-8c9b8b994a2745f4af74fad26b6e8cf22025-08-20T03:14:43ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-04-0114593610.3390/land14050936UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value CaptureRichard Grover0Independent Researcher, Winchester SO22 4QJ, UKThe United Kingdom has had a series of unsuccessful attempts at securing land value capture in 1909, 1947, 1967, and 1975. The 1909 land duties would have taxed increases in land values irrespective of the source. The latter three combined public bodies, acquiring development land with levies on developers. For them, value uplift was limited to that arising from the granting of planning consent. None of the measures were fully implemented and were reversed by incoming governments. One of the key problems with value capture policies has been the lack of political consensus. Since 1979, consensus has developed around the use of three types of value capture instruments. Development corporations have been created for the regeneration of local areas by acquiring development land and improving it. Local authorities have been able to use planning obligations and community infrastructure levies to oblige developers to mitigate externalities. Governments have made it clear that these are not to be used as value capture devices and therefore are really applications of the polluter pays principle. Thirdly, there are national taxes that fall on increases in the value of land, namely, business rates, stamp duty land tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/936bettermentland value captureplanning obligationsplanning gainpolluter pays principle
spellingShingle Richard Grover
UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
Land
betterment
land value capture
planning obligations
planning gain
polluter pays principle
title UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
title_full UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
title_fullStr UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
title_full_unstemmed UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
title_short UK—A Century of Failing (and Sometimes Succeeding) at Value Capture
title_sort uk a century of failing and sometimes succeeding at value capture
topic betterment
land value capture
planning obligations
planning gain
polluter pays principle
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/936
work_keys_str_mv AT richardgrover ukacenturyoffailingandsometimessucceedingatvaluecapture