Conferences
The Labour Land Campaign is a leading player in the debate on how to capture land values for the benefit of society. We have been involved in the following major conferences which seek to progress thinking and practice.
Investing in Infrastructure : The Impact of the New Community Infrastructure Levy
6th February 2008 : Bircham Dyson Bell, Westminster, London
The Government has put on hold its plan to introduce a Planning-Gain Supplement (PGS) and instead has confirmed its commitment to the introduction of a community infrastructure levy. This will be based on the variety of planning tariffs, already in place, across the country and will be set by local and regional authorities in accordance with their infrastructure plans.
The Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP Minister for Housing said that the aim is to enable councils to “capture greater levels of planning gain to support new infrastructure and housing”.
The community infrastructure levy aims to create a more flexible funding system and to allow regions and local authorities to plan positively. This seminar will examine how the charge will work, looks at its design and the implications for local authorities and developers.
Download the conference brochure [PDF 215KB].
Smart Taxes Replacing Bad Taxes: If Not Now Then When?
School of Economic Science,
15th May 2007
There is a lot of interest in tax reform and wide realisation that the present structure of taxation is economically inefficient, environmentally damaging and socially inequitable. This seminar aims to demonstrate that moving the structure of taxation away from highly distortionary taxes on productive activity, towards taxes on the use of scarce natural resources (including land), would have major economic, environmental and social advantages. There is a tendency to avoid fundamental reform because of a perception that such reform is really intended to increase the burden of taxation. This seminar will take the tax take as a given (fiscal neutrality), and discuss ways of replacing bad taxes with smart (green, economically non-distortionary, socially equitable) taxes.
Download the full conference brochure [PDF 135KB].
Future of Planning Following the Barker and Eddington Reports
27th and 28th February 2007,
Mayfair Conference Centre, London
This is a time of major change for the UK’s planning system – the Government is concerned that the planning system is not doing enough to support investment, growth and the delivery of major projects. Recent high profile reviews – the two Kate Barker Reports on Land Use Planning and Housing Supply, the Eddington Transport Study and the Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change all have implications on the future of planning policy in the UK.
Download the full conference brochure [PDF 209KB].
The Economics of Abundance
3rd - 6th July 2006, London
Our economics is not working. New directions are now unavoidable in terms both of social processes and institutions. This unique series of conferences will seek to map out the way forward. It will rewrite the specifications of a science, quantify the new possibilities, and consider how all of us might benefit. It will identify areas of thinking and of practice which need new work and research. Delegates are invited to join these working conferences and participate in the creative exercise of mapping the territory of the new economics of abundance.
Download full conference details [1.6MB]
Planning Gain Supplement: Yes or No?
Morning of 25th May 2006, Hosted by Bircham Dyson Bell
On 5 December 2005 the Treasury launched a consultation on the Government's response to Kate Barker's recommendation that a Planning Gain Supplement should be introduced. Waterfront is organizing this half-day policy seminar endorsed by the Labour Land Campaign, to examine the advantages and disadvantages of introducing a Planning Gain Supplement; the legal, scheme design and implementation issues; and whether we can achieve and maintain a political consensus.
Housing Affordability: Tackling the Causes Not the Symptoms
Morning of 15th March 2006, Bircham
Dyson Bell Offices, London
Housing costs, as a proportion of income, are rising inexorably. This is having a major adverse effect on those on moderate and good incomes as well as on the poor and vulnerable. Both employers' organisations and Trade Unions have recognised the economic and social consequences. These include problems with labour mobility and recruitment, poverty, poor health, lack of education attainment, pensions and, general strains on the public purse due to dealing with the consequences of housing unaffordability.
Ensuring a Sustainable Olympics' Legacy
1st December 2005, Bevan Brittan's Offices, Fleet Place, London
Everyone agrees that we want a sustainable Olympics' legacy which involves more than top-class sporting facilities and memories of a month of excellent sporting competition. However, what would such a legacy consist of and how can it be made sustainable? This half-day seminar, endorsed by the Labour Land Campaign, will examine the goals of the Olympics' regeneration challenge and the means by which they can be achieved, in particular long-term public private partnership models for ownership and management.
Housing Crisis: Beyond 'Predict and Provide'
9th November 2005, Central London
The Labour Land Campaign are pleased to support this one-day conference examining whether increasing housing supply will really solve the housing crisis, particularly when there is no predict and provide for the necessary infrastructure. Should different, but market-friendly, policies such as demand management and new approaches to land be introduced?
Affordable Housing in Mixed Use Developments: Does it Really Work?
29th September 2005, Central London
The Labour Land Campaign is pleased to endorse the following one-day conference which will grapple with one of the key issues emerging in affordable housing today. This is how life and economic vibrancy can be brought back into inner city areas through the delivery of mixed use developments, including large numbers of affordable housing, whilst maintaining financial viability.
3rd Annual Building More Houses Conference : Land and Sustainability
18 May 2005, Central London
The Labour Land Campaign are pleased to endorse Waterfront's third annual 'Building More Houses' conference, which will discuss ways for more houses to be built within the context of the Government's sustainable communities, planning, taxation, home ownership, land and environmental policies.
Crossrail : The Challenge and Opportunity
15th June 2005, Central London
The Labour Land Campaign are pleased to endorse this one-day conference during the Crossrail Hybrid Bill's passage through parliament.
Planning and Public Investment
6th July 2005, Central London
A one-day conference endorsed by Labour Land Campaign examining the ways in which the planning system can be used to finance public investment projects in the Growth Areas and across the UK. The conference tackles the question: is the award of planning permission solely private gain or is it public opportunity as well?
Toward Land Value Taxation for Local Government?
16 September 2004, Oxford
A one-day conference examining the practical and political issues involved in using LVT to finance local government, with evidence from the Oxfordshire LVT trial and other studies.
Financing Transport Infrastructure through Land Values: Making It Happen
held 6th July 2004, CBI Conference Centre, London
A one-day participatory conference that examined how transport projects can be financed through land values, and the wider benefits of changing the tax base.