Jersey’s Environment Minister, Stephen Luce, recently said he would ask the island’s legislature to agree to the introduction of a land development levy.
The proposed Jersey Infrastructure Levy will capture a small percentage of the profit arising when planning permission is given to develop land, with a set percentage of the levy given to the parish in which a development is built to fund parish improvements.
Under the proposals, non-residential developments under 75 square meters of new floor space (roughly the size of a two-bedroom apartment), affordable homes, and charitable trust projects will be exempt.
Luce commented: „I believe that a community infrastructure levy is an open, workable, and fair way of securing a small contribution from the landowner who makes a significant profit out of permission for land development.“
If Jersey’s legislature approves the principle of the levy, the detail will be developed and agreed at a later stage, and will return to Jersey’s legislature for approval. A levy will not be introduced until after April 2019 at the earliest to allow developers who have acquired land, or are in the process of acquiring land, to secure planning permission for development schemes.
