Three influential bodies in Birmingham joined forces at the
Conservative Party conference to urge the government to push ahead
with plans to introduce Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to fund
infrastructure development.
At a fringe meeting, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group,
Birmingham City Council and Centro called for Birmingham to become
a "pilot for turning this ambition into reality".
Jerry Blackett, Chief Executive of Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce Group, said: "Tax Increment Financing will allow local
councils to keep some of the extra business rates and council tax
they raise to enable new developments to go ahead. Infrastructure
development is vital to economic growth and finding a way to
maintain crucial investment has never been more
important.
Stephen Hughes, Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council,
added: "Following the earlier announcement that 'councils will be
able to keep some of the extra business rates and council tax they
raise when they enable new developments to go ahead', we now call
on Government to take the next step and allow Birmingham to become
the pilot for turning this ambition into reality.
"There is no time to delay - Scottish Government and Scottish
Future's Trust last week gave approval to Edinburgh City Council's
plan to borrow £84m through TIF to redevelop the Leith
Docks
"Now we urge Government to retain the £120m ADZ Pilot
Programme announced in the Budget on March 24 and use this money to
permit a small number of TIF supported projects to start
immediately."
Alex Burrows, Head of Strategy at Centro, said: "This
Conference has made clear that the Government has two priorities:
the economy and the low carbon agenda. Transport is a key enabler
of both, driving sustainable economic growth and creating jobs.
"Tax increment financing of schemes like the Birmingham City
Centre to Birmingham Airport Rapid Transit plan will deliver
connectivity between the city centre, Birmingham Business Park and
Chelmsley Wood.
"TIF will allow us to fund vital but expensive transport
infrastructure now - allowing us to unlock and realise long-term
benefits in terms of jobs, wealth, skills, education, health and
social inclusion."
• Panellists agreed that for the process to move forward
quickly, and deliver the thousands of new jobs which will flow from
it, legislation must:
o Be permissive to allow for a range
of TIF models
o Be included in The Finance Bill,
not Localism Bill
o Have no caps, but instead agreed
objective criteria for TIF approval
o Support difficult, genuinely
transformational economic change projects
o Offer flexible borrowing - ie not
restricted to local authorities
o Avoid the unworkable elements of
2000 Local Tax Reinvestment Programme