John Harris says that Persimmon was “given a substantial helping hand by George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme” (Journal, 22 January). It was more than a helping hand – it was money which Persimmon won’t have to pay back. Only the poor housebuyers will have to pay it back when they sell, in the same way that only little people pay taxes.
Development-sector shareholders are having a great laugh at taxpayers’ expense and, with help to buy, they will carry on doing so because their companies will never build at a rate which obliges them to drop prices.
So the case for a development land tax – or a straight land tax, as Harris suggests – remains unanswerable; if a community gives planning permission through its councils, it should share – arguably take all of – the windfall rise in land value. But returning Tories killed Labour’s two significant attempts along those lines in the 60s and 70s. The only hope is that a rising demographic excluded from home ownership will gradually tip the balance with their votes and be able to defend the principle while reviving social housing, preferably funded by land tax receipts.
John Worrall
Cromer, Norfolk
• I was one of the wave of young postwar local authority architects who built houses to Parker Morris space standards and looked to plan houses to take account of how they could be adapted as families grew up. Margaret Thatcher did away with these standards, leading to the dolls’ houses being built today. Boris Johnson promised to reintroduce them but nothing happened. Perhaps Sadiq Khan can ensure this happens.
Sadly there are few local authority architects’ departments left, and the direct link of local architects committed to designing for the needs of local people has been lost.
Robert Dark
London
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