Crossrail 2: TfL 'levy' could force nearby home owners to stump up millions for project

westernpromise

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/11/crossrail-2-may-ask-nearby-home-owners-stump-millions-project/
Home owners living within a certain radius of Crossrail 2 stations could be forced to stump up millions to pay for the project.

Transport for London is considering introducing a levy to fund the £30 billion scheme, which will run from Broxbourne in Hertfordshire to Epsom in Surrey, through central London.

It would create three zones stretching a kilometre around each station. Each zone, mapped out in concentric circles, would have a scaled charge, known as the Transport Property Charge, descending with the distance from the station

Any able to access the full article?

Edit: it seems they're planning to collect it via increased council tax. That should please renters!

GreatApe

A project should stand on it's own feet not think up ways to justify itself
If the project is too expensive or the public won't pay the needed ticket prices then go back to the drawing board and design something better.

PasturesNew

Ridiculous, it'll never go ahead. Some/most people simply wouldn't be able to afford it.

It'd be better to have a special Share Issue for locals, enabling those who have spare cash and who wish to invest to have a "preferential terms" or additional benefits share set.......

It's easy, if you're wealthy/loaded to dream up "grand designs" if you feel you can inflict the cost of it on those unable/unwilling to even have it exist at all ... "the little people" being expected to pay for something the wealthy will benefit from, whether they're highly paid professionals using it, or wealthy business owners able to attend more meetings, or investors wanting a profit, or the person who "dreamt it up" hoping to then gain exposure and draw more money/business towards themselves, perchance a knighthood.

The man standing outside the local chippy with £2 in his hand, wondering if he should buy chips with that, or see if the supermarket can give him 3 days' YS food ... is not interested in these gentrification schemes.

westernpromise

The question it raises for me is where do you stop. If the council grants planning permission for a Waitrose nearby, should your council tax go up? If the council approves a gypsy camp or a sewage farm, will your council tax go down?

kabayiri

Hmm, interesting.

If you don't stump up for a first class transport system in London, you risk losing out to other up and coming cities.

Consider it an investment then..

datostar

The full article points out that a similar method of funding was used for the 2012 London Olympics when Council Tax on Londoners was increased by around £20 a year over several years to pay for it.

Dippypud

westernpromise wrote: »

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/11/crossrail-2-may-ask-nearby-home-owners-stump-millions-project/


Any able to access the full article?

https://www.egi.co.uk/news/tfl-plans-property-tax-to-fund-30bn-crossrail-2/

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Every 5 mins walk nearer you are to a Tube station increases the house value/rental cost by £x, according to one London agent I met. I'm sure nobody ever complains about proximity to a fast line to a big city after it's built.

GreatApe

These megaprojects should be put on hold.
We are just at the edge of superhuman type computer vision
With that in place transport will change a lot both intercity and within city.

HS2 will probably go down in history and one of the worst investments ever.
A super expensive slow central point to central point train line.
With computer vision you can have very cheap taxis which could ferry groups of 4-6 point to point at a cost of likely not more than 50p a mile

lisyloo

westernpromise wrote: »

The question it raises for me is where do you stop. If the council grants planning permission for a Waitrose nearby, should your council tax go up? If the council approves a gypsy camp or a sewage farm, will your council tax go down?

There is a point at which one needs to be a little pragmatic isn't there?
If it's £20 per annum I can't say I'd be bothered if my house price had risen by £XXXXX.
Even the cash poor can't be that badly affected by £20 per year and if they are a single pensioner on low inccome then they'll be getting council tax benefit.

kabayiri

lisyloo wrote: »

There is a point at which one needs to be a little pragmatic isn't there?
If it's £20 per annum I can't say I'd be bothered if my house price had risen by £XXXXX.
Even the cash poor can't be that badly affected by £20 per year and if they are a single pensioner on low inccome then they'll be getting council tax benefit.

Let's be honest. That sort of amount does not even touch the sides.

Even if it raised £200m, it's meaningless. This project is tens of billions, not millions.

It'd have to be a lot higher to be any sort of meaningful contribution.