DEVELOPMENT levies seeking to capture a proportion of the increase in value of land rezoned for building are one of the casualties of current efforts to reduce the cost of government, Environment Minister Steve Luce has told the States.
The minister confirmed that he would not now be able to meet a States’ request to introduce such legislation by 31 March next year, blaming the delay on the freeze on consultancy and limited law-drafting time.
Deputy Luce said he hoped that they would be in place by the time of the next Island Plan – which sets planning policy and which he said was likely itself to be delayed until 2027 or 2028 – but he also expressed reservations, beyond the present practical difficulties, about whether they were currently appropriate.
“The economic landscape has changed since the matter was last considered in detail. It’s evident that there are currently challenging economic circumstances for the Island’s development industry and the associated property market. Exploration of a further charge on the development industry in these difficult times will not necessarily lead to a positive outcome and may therefore not be prudent use of public funds … at this time,” Deputy Luce said.
In April last year, the States supported a proposition from Reform Deputy Raluca Kovacs to introduce development levies and it set the end of March next year as the date by which legislation should be in place.
However, the work is one of a number of projects which Deputy Luce admitted could not now be completed in 2025, including waste carrier certificate charges, prevention of pollution from construction sites, work on statutory nuisance law, the St Brelade’s Bay improvement plan, the carbon offset purchasing strategy, performance certificates for dwellings, the climate finance strategy and work on the Island-wide footpath.
“We are all having to focus on priorities. That is a shortlist of the work that I’m now not able to complete,” Deputy Luce said.
Deputy Luce was being questioned on development levies in the States by his ministerial predecessor, Deputy Jonathan Renouf, who asked whether the delay “helped the credibility of the Assembly in dealing with the public.”
