Last edited 11 Dec 2014

Autumn statement 2014

This article presents some of the construction industry ‘highlights’ of the 2014 Autumn Statement to Parliament given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on 3 December 2014.

[edit] Investment

£2.3bn of capital investment in over 1,400 flood defence projects.
£15 billion investment in the road network.
£141m to support the London Legacy Development Corporation and Mayor of London’s plans to build a new higher education and cultural quarter at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Proposals to directly commission new housing and extend the affordable housing programme.
£55 million to support the extension of the London Overground to Barking Riverside.
£100 million to fund infrastructure and land remediation to kick start a new garden city at Ebbsfleet.
Approval for the Grahame Park, Blackwall Reach, Aylesbury Estate and New Union Wharf regeneration projects.
Proposals to release land with the capacity for up to 150,000 homes between 2015 and 2020.
Support for Bicester to provide up to 13,000 new homes.
Plans to take forward the development of Northstowe.
Invest in the ‘northern powerhouse’.

Changes to the regime for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
Improvements to the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) to reduce the administrative burden on construction businesses.

Extending affordable housing capital investment to 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Consulting on options to streamline the process for selling on shared ownership properties, and extending shared ownership.

Ensuring the principle of development need only be established once.
Taking steps to speed up section 106 negotiations, including revised guidance, consulting on a faster process for reaching agreement, considering how timescales for agreement could be introduced, and improving transparency.
Keeping the speed of decisions on major applications under review, with the minimum performance threshold increasing to 50% of major decisions on time.
Publishing new data on local authorities’ performance in meeting their statutory duty to process smaller planning applications within 8 weeks.
Working with industry and local authorities to test whether more can be done to support the approval of small sites.
Publishing proposals for making the Compulsory Purchase Regime clearer, faster and fairer, with the aim of bringing forward more brownfield land for development.

Allocating £25 million of funding in 2015-16 for first‑time heating systems in off-gas-grid homes in England.
Increasing funding by £100 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to support households installing energy efficiency improvements.
Excluding all companies substantially benefiting from other government support for the generation of renewable energy from also benefiting from tax-advantaged venture capital schemes, with the exception of community energy generation undertaken by qualifying organisations.

Extending the Enterprise Zone in Nottingham to a site in Derby, and considering the case for further extensions to existing Enterprise Zones.
Discussing plans for a Growth Zone in Croydon.
Working on a simplification programme for the local licensing regime for small business, with an expectation that, by 2018, every local authority will offer a single online application process where businesses only need register their details once.