The potential impact of reforms to the essential parameters of the council tax

Council Tax was introduced in Britain in 1993 and represents a unique international property tax. There is a growing belief that it is time to reform the number and structure of council tax bands but such views have a minimal empirical base. This paper sets out to assess the impact on personal and local government finances, and extends the analysis to the role of the tax multipliers linked to each band. The research is based on the experience of a representative sample of local authorities in Scotland. A statistical revaluation for 2000 is estimated for the existing eight band system, and from this base a ten band system is calculated. Financial implications are then simulated for each local authority taking account of central resource equalisation mechanisms. The results indicate that increases in bands will have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations. Changing the tax multiplier range has the greatest impact on local authority finances and council tax payments

Housing supply and brownfield regeneration in a post-Barker review world: A comparison of policy and practice in England and Scotland

The findings of the Barker review, which examined the reasons for the undersupply of UK housing, have important implications for the devolved constituents of the UK, including Scotland. This paper traces the emergence of the brownfield regeneration policy agenda across the UK and examines how the Barker review connects with this brownfield policy focus. The paper compares housing and brownfield policies and practices in England and Scotland, places them in an international context and elicits wider lessons for devolved governance in relation to housing policy, in terms of `centrist—local' tensions. Estimates based on published data suggest that Barker's emphasis on increased housing supply cannot easily be reconciled with the current emphasis on brownfield development and is likely to require a return to greenfield development in both countries

Influence of design and media amendments on the performance of stormwater biofilters

Biofiltration systems are a promising retrofit option for site-constrained urban areas due to the vertical arrangement of treatment stages that leads to a relatively compact footprint. Existing knowledge about the influence of their design and configuration on hydrological, stormwater pollutant removal and long-term performance is limited and this has been identified as a barrier to their widespread uptake. Long-term simulations of lined and unlined biofiltration systems in four contrasting UK climatic regimes were used to assess the influence of climate, ponding depth, biofilter to drainage area ratio and infiltration rate on hydrological performance. The results showed that local differences in climate have a significant impact on performance and that infiltration rates as low as 0·36 mm/h are not suitable for locations in the UK with high rainfall unless the biofilter to drainage area ratio is greater than 10%. However, with higher infiltration rates (72 mm/h) a biofilter occupying only 3% of the impermeable catchment area would be capable of infiltrating 97% of annual rainfall in central England. Preliminary results of adsorption and column tests to assess the effectiveness of media amendments, specifically zeolite and granular activated carbon, for dissolved copper and phosphate removal are presented in this paper

What is the state of the art in energy and transport poverty metrics? A critical and comprehensive review

This review investigates the state of the art in metrics used in energy (or fuel) and transport poverty with a view to assessing how these overlapping concepts may be unified in their measurement. Our review contributes to ongoing debates over decarbonisation, a politically sensitive and crucial aspect of the energy transition, and one that could exacerbate patterns of inequality or vulnerability. Up to 125 million people across the European Union experience the effects of energy poverty in their daily lives. A more comprehensive understanding of the breadth and depth of these conditions is therefore paramount. This review assessed 1,134 articles and critically analysed a deeper sample of 93. In terms of the use of metrics, we find that multiple indicators are better than any single metric or composite. We find work remains to be conducted in the transport poverty sphere before energy poverty metrics can be fully unified with those of transport poverty, namely the stipulation of travel standards. Without such standards, our ability to unify the metrics of both fields and potentially alleviate both conditions simultaneously is limited. The difficulties in defining necessary travel necessitate the further use of vulnerability lenses and holistic assessments focused on energy and transport services

Annual survey of radioactive discharges in Great Britain 1979

0.30LD:1534.9312(1979) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Local Government Act 1992, Section 9 Competition in the Provision of Local Authority Services

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:3214.1(DOE-Circ--93/10) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Housing and construction statistics 1983 - 1993 Great Britain

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:4335.0904(1983-1993) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo