Local authorities should look at the small print before considering new wind farms and biomass power plants, according to experts in the Birmingham office of leading national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH)
This is despite the Government’s recent announcement that local authorities will be authorised to keep control of 100 per cent of business rates generated from renewable energy projects.
The policy seems clear, but the devil is in the detail according to Mark Clapham, Director of Rating in LSH’s Birmingham office.
“Reading between the lines, it’s clear that ‘it is only the energy generating components of those projects that constitute the qualifying technology. In other words, the entire renewable energy plant infrastructure is unlikely to qualify, and nuclear appears to have been ruled out in its entirety. This means it will fall to the Government’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the local valuation office, to determine the business rate levy attributable to the renewable energy element of the plant,” he said.
He added, “Clearly clarification is required or an already stretched and financially constrained VOA is likely to be asked to become expert in the moveable feast that is renewable energy plant technology.
“It seems the Government is not sending a clear message on renewable projects to local authorities. Despite sounding simple, the situation for local authorities is not clear. The Government needs to clarify this before any local authorities make decisions or take any plans forward.”
