As an update to my August Blog on the potential loss of Land Remediation Relief - I am pleased to report that the Government has listened to the industry and the relief survives ...
Extract from HMRCs consultation response
"Land remediation relief
2.12 The original purpose of this relief was to provide a financial incentive to developers to bring land back into use that had been contaminated by previous industrial use or land containing derelict structures that would be prohibitively expensive to remove. Approximately 1,300 companies a year claim this relief costing the Exchequer around £40m. Based on the information available at Budget, the Government agreed with the OTS’s view that it failed to deliver its policy objective.
2.13 As part of the consultation, responses were received from a range of interested parties including companies and representative bodies. Respondents argued that removing this relief would affect the regeneration of uneconomic brown-field sites. Several companies claimed that they take land remediation relief into account when considering sites and that removal of this relief would make a significant number of their planned projects financially unviable.
Information was also presented that suggested abolishing this relief would exacerbate financial pressures on this sector resulting from the removal of the exemption from landfill tax for soils and waste from contaminated sites, which was agreed in 2009 and is coming into effect shortly.
2.14 The Government has considered the responses. Based on the evidence received in the consultation the Government has decided that removal of this relief, in conjunction with the already agreed removal of the exemption from landfill tax, would risk undermining the Government’s plans to support the housing and construction sectors through planning reforms and the release of large areas of publicly owned land for development. The Government has therefore decided not to abolish this relief"
The full response paper can be viewed here.
