Blog - Government Changes to Planning Permission for Extensions (06/09/2012)
Well the Government has published another gem! It’s a scheme to kick-start the economy by reducing planning laws once again.Many people have contacted me today to see if they can now build a larger extension as a result of watching Mr Clegg on the BBC morning news. However, as always “the devil is in the detail” as they say. I’ve attached a link to the Government’s website for the exact statement issued by Eric Pickles (quite an apt name for what they are doing to the planning system!!).
The link is:http://www.communities.gov.uk/statements/corporate/housingandgrowth
I would really like to know what people think of the statement made by the Government.
In all don’t get your hopes up. I really don’t think it will help Joe Public to build larger extensions, but let’s wait and see.
In my very humble opinion, the simplest way of encouraging the building of extensions is to reduce the VAT on extensions from 20% down to say 10% or 5% (new-build is 0% !!!!). The biggest grumble we get from the householder is the quote for their extension is £60,000 plus VAT, which is then another £12,000, taking the spend up to £72,000 which in a lot of cases makes the extension unviable. So please Mr Cameron & Clegg just reduce the VAT on this sector.
I will keep you posted as things develop!!
