BUILDERS TO SAVE US FROM RECESSION ?

As the recession grinds on, the Government continues to scrabble around for things they can do to promote 'growth'.

 

The latest wheeze is a relaxation of planning laws aimed at allowing people to build larger extensions on the backs of their houses and giving shops and offices the ability to expand more easily. New housing developments will be excused from the current rules which require all such schemes to provide an element of so-called 'affordable housing'. It would appear that local government planning officers are to be sent to purgatory for a period of up to 3 years in order to allow all of this to happen.

 

I'm sure that many people will react in the same way as I will, and rush out to find a rogue builder who will add a vast new extension to my home; or, perhaps, neither I nor they will do any such thing. Equally, all of the empty shops in my local highstreet will suddenly be bought by developers who see extensions to these properties as the way to making a fortune - or perhaps they won't.

 

That this is a scheme which screams "Desperation !" seems fairly obvious. Perhaps it will achieve something though I doubt it. Some housebuilders may see the relaxed rules as providing an improved environment in which they may be able to profit but will this really provide the boost that the economy supposedly needs ? Highly unlikely.

 

Set against this Tory / LibDem scheme is the latest Labour plan for solving our problems - a wealth tax. It really does defy belief that the lefties in our society still see higher taxation as the answer to our current malaise; for 13 years this lot increased taxation and borrowing in order to squander money they didn't really have on schemes that couldn't really be afforded and now they think more of the same will make things better.

 

In medical terms, what the Government is trying to do is find a panacea that will do the job; what Labour are proposing is a placebo, something which will appear to help for a time while actually doing nothing helpful. The Tory / LibDem panacea will not be remotely strong enough and the Labour placebo will result in the death of the patient due to the lack of real and effective treatment.

 

Which do you prefer ?