REPORT PUBLISHED

REGENERATION AND THE RECESSION: UNLOCKING THE MONEY

Click here for the full report in pdf format.

The All Party Urban Development Group’s sixth inquiry has taken stock of conditions in the regeneration industry, has assessed the viability of existing regeneration financing models and has examined the challenges involved in introducing alternative financing arrangements, such as Accelerated Development Zones (ADZs), which could be adapted from the US Tax Increment Financing (TIF) model. 

This report highlights the need for cities to have additional financial tools and revenue raising options, and argues that accelerated development zones (ADZs) – a UK variant on tax increment financing (TIF), which forward funds infrastructure taken from future increases in tax revenue caused by new development – should be introduced as a key step towards achieving this objective.

 

Based on the oral and written evidence submitted to the group’s inquiry, this report recommends that:

 

1.   In the next Pre-Budget Report, the government should pilot a significant yet manageable number of TIFs/ADZs.

 2.    The next should use these pilots to push through a fully national TIF/ADZ scheme so that cities can use accelerated development zones from 2011.

 3.    All cities need to adopt a more proactive approach to working with the private sector, and take on more risk.

 4.    The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) should establish a specialist regeneration funding team to support local authorities with the practical challenges of implementing different funding models in the current climate.

 

 

For further information on the All Party Urban Development Group, please contact:

 

Kurt Mueller

Clerk, All Party Urban Development Group

Public Affairs Manager, British Property Federation

kmueller@bpf.org.uk

0207 802 0128 (direct)