The planning process would be speeded up if local authorities could rake in business rates from occupiers that new developments attract, said Land Securities chief executive Francis Salway today.
He told MIPIM delegates in Cannes that local authorities needed to have the armoury to convince voters of the benefits of new developments by receiving more of the revenue produced when new schemes open. Currently, business rate cash goes straight to the Treasury.
'Local authorities must be incentivised to support development,' he said.
He said planning would be speeded up because local opposition would be reduced.
'The tragedy is we have walked away from many schemes because of a lack of confidence that we could deliver in a reasonable time frame,' he said. 'Ten years later those sites are still blighted.'
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