Regeneration chief, John Nicholls has told the BBC’s Today Programme that the government’s tax on empty offices is having a chaotic impact on regeneration in the most deprived areas of Britain.
Nicholls, who is chairman of the government-funded urban regeneration companies (URCs) chief executive group, said that the newly imposed tax is driving owners to demolish empty office spaces to avoid paying the tax.
Developers too are leaving sites unfinished in order to avoid risking having to pay the tax should offices fail to find tenants.
Speaking about what he hoped to achieve by taking the campaign to ditch the tax public, Nicholls said: “First of all, to draw attention to the fact that this isn’t just a problem for the development and property industries, important though they are, it’s really impacting on the business of urban regeneration and also to point out that it’s not all about demolitions.
“This is starting to affect the supply of much needed new property and job-generating property in our urban areas.”