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Planning Bill

My Lords, I have two short speeches to make in quick succession on these amendments. The charities most affected by the possibility of paying the community infrastructure levy are the housing associations, which are building tens of thousands of homes on which this new levy would be charged over and over again. We have reached a point where it is clear that those housing associations that are charities will be excluded and will not have to pay CIL. In all normal circumstances, Clause 209 will cut them out, which is extremely good news and very positive. The housing associations divide between the 70 per cent that are charities and the remainder that are not charities because, usually for slightly obscure historical reasons, they decided not to register as charities. I had responsibility for helping such organisations to register between 1968 and 1988, which gave me 20 years of looking at the constitutions of those different organisations. About 30 per cent of them are housing co-operatives or organisations that are industrial and provident societies without charitable status. Even though they make up only 30 per cent of housing associations, they make up about 50 per cent of the total housing association output. If they are not also excluded we will run into all kinds of anomalies. When one looks at the two types of organisation side by side, it is hard to be sure which is and which is not a charity. It is my hope that the Minister will place on record some of the very helpful comments that she made to us in a letter. She expressed the view that she hopes it will be possible, after consultation with the National Housing Federation and others, to find the regulations to ensure that those organisations that do not happen to be charities but are also providing this much needed affordable housing are included in the same exemption from CIL. I am hoping to hear—again, it is a matter of saying this on the Floor of the House, which is important to those in the world outside—that it is the Government’s intention that all housing associations that are making the same provision of social housing for the same kind of people will be placed in the same position for CIL, which I hope is a fairly straightforward statement. Otherwise, we will have half the production line of affordable housing by these organisations disadvantaged and confused. All kinds of anomalies will creep in as to which kind of organisation a builder or a local authority wants to work with. It would be immensely helpful if we could have clarity regarding the Government’s intention to place all housing associations on the same footing if they are doing exactly the same job with the same subsidies and the same governmental support. My second speech relates to the amendment specifically about charities. I have followed the ebb and flow of this debate very closely and with a good deal of interest. Obviously, we must recognise that the Minister has already—perhaps she has not been given a sainthood for this part of the Bill—moved a long way towards putting in the Bill the fact that there will be a 100 per cent non-negotiable exemption for charities in all normal circumstances. That is the effect of the way in which the Bill is phrased. However, she has reserved unto government the fact that in regulations there will be the opportunity in exceptional circumstances to say ““no”” to that overarching 100 per cent general exemption. It would not be like rate relief which, for example, is 80 per cent relief or VAT which is 0 per cent relief. As someone who runs charities, I know that we have to pay some taxes, such as VAT. I turn to those that have invested in land. I ran the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust for many years and we had a portfolio that included land that will go for future development. Indeed, the trust still owns such land. I was musing on the point that an investment by charities in land should be treated in the same way as an investment in stocks and shares; that is, if they are sold, no capital gains tax is payable. But if land is held for investment, when it is sold, the charity would not pay CIL at that point; it would be payable further down the line by the housebuilder who purchases the land. However, it would not be payable if the purchaser was a charitable housing association. Therefore, this would affect only indirectly the investment of the Rowntree foundation and others holding land for investment purposes. I absolutely take the point. The question for us, having put into the Bill a 100 per cent exemption in normal circumstances, is whether we can be given sufficient reassurance about the exceptions to those normal circumstances in which the Government reserve the right to say no. I chair the Giving Forum which looks at ways in which giving and donations can be increased. We have promoting, for example, the idea of lifetime legacies, ways of giving during someone’s lifetime but still getting some benefit. I have come up against the staunch resistance of the Treasury to measures that might be abused by clever lawyers using obscure charity law to benefit individuals or companies. Tedious as it is, I have come to recognise that it is possible for avoidance measures to creep in to such schemes. On state aid and the European dimension, I am afraid that I have no understanding of why that is an inhibition at all, but I appreciate that the Treasury has its own lawyers who will put up a very hard fight to ensure that there is in regulations a safety net for the Government that provides that although in normal circumstances there will be a 100 per cent exemption, the Government can reserve the right in some perhaps obscure situations nevertheless to call in the CIL exemption. We are not going to get past that because the government lawyers are going to be fairly adamant. That seems to be a pretty solid brick wall. We can take a rush at it, although possibly the rush would go a bit too far with the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Shutt. However, those tabled by my noble friend Lord Cameron of Dillington, the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, do not. I hope that we can be given sufficient reassurance not to have to push this too hard. I have a great deal more sympathy with those amendments rather than seeking to go at this head on. I hope, too, that the Minister can give us a few more words of comfort before we take the next steps on this.