Budget Statement 2009 - architeria.eu

RIBA RESPONSE TO BUDGET STATEMENT 2009


The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, delivered his Budget Statement to the House of Commons. The Budget highlighted the serious economic situation that the UK faces which will not be good news for architects who are already at the front line, with current estimates showing that 30% of architects are unemployed or under-employed.

Among the key points of most interest to the Royal Institute of British Architects are:

· Housing - £600 million fund to stimulate housing development of which £400 million to unlock currently stalled housing developments together with an expansion in the provision of HomeBuy Direct, and increased funding for affordable housing; and £100 million of new funding for local authorities to build new energy efficient social housing.
· Stamp duty holiday for homes up to £175,000 to be extended to end of year, and an extra £80m provided for shared equity mortgage scheme
· Carbon budget - The first carbon budget in the world - a 34 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020. As recommended by the Committee on Climate Change but if a global deal is achieved in Copenhagen 09 then this should rise to 42% of 1990 levels.
· Sustainability - £375 million to support energy and resource efficiency in businesses, public buildings and households over the next two years, and £70 million for decentralised small-scale and community low-carbon energy. And a further £405 million to support low-carbon industries and advanced green manufacturing.
· Unemployment - Help for job seekers with £1.7bn additional resources for Job Centre network and a raise in redundancy pay to £380 per week.
· Capital spending – a commitment to continue capital spending until 2012, with a further £300m for funding further education college building as part of the Building College for the Future programme

Responding to the statement, RIBA President Sunand Prasad said:

“The 2009 budget carries little positive news for the industry amidst a global economic crisis. Regretfully, the Government in the current economic climate has found it impossible to make a significant investment in the long-term future, whether in housing or infrastructure. Amongst the few chinks of light is the stimulus for housing, but the 10,000 homes is a fraction of what is needed".

“We welcome the setting of the first carbon budget in the world - now the real challenge will be to meet this budget. The scale of the programme for improving the energy efficiency of existing housing is small, yet retrofitting our existing stock is crucial to tackling climate change. We strongly believe a reduction in VAT to 5% for home maintenance and repair would be a low cost measure which would stimulate further employment for architects and other professionals.”

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Text: The Royal Institute of British Architects