public news
PGS scrapped as Government accepts BPF proposal
The Government in this afternoon's Pre-Budget Report has announced that, following consultation with the property industry, it has decided to scrap its controversial planning-gain supplement (PGS) proposals.
Instead it has decided to introduce a tariff-based solution along the lines suggested by an industry group comprising the BPF, Home Builders Federation, Major Developers Group and London First.
We await further details and a full summary of this, and other appropriate elements of the PBR, will be included in Friday's weekly notification.
In the meantime, here's the announcement made by the Government today:
6.16 Kate Barker's review of Housing Supply proposed the introduction of a Planning-gain Supplement (PGS), a new levy on development to raise additional resources to invest in the infrastructure needed to support housing growth. In its response the Government accepted that local communities should benefit more from the often significant increases in land values arising from planning permission. Following extensive consultation, the Prime Minister indicated in July 2007 that the Government would be prepared to defer legislation to introduce PGS if a better way could be found to ensure that local communities receive more of the benefits from planning gain, to invest in necessary infrastructure and transport. The Housing Green Paper sought views on PGS and possible alternatives.
6.17 Following discussions with key stakeholders, the Government will legislate in the Planning Reform Bill to empower Local Planning Authorities in England to apply new planning charges to new development, alongside negotiated contributions for site-specific matters. Charge income will be used entirely to fund the infrastructure identified through the development plan process. Charges should include contributions towards the costs of infrastructure of regional or sub-regional importance. Legislation implementing PGS will therefore not be introduced in the next Parliamentary session. Further details will be published shortly by CLG.
The full Pre-Budget Report is available on the Treasury website
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Trust Property Management Group plc appoint Larry Lipman to the Board of Directors PRW - 19 September 2007
Trust Property Management Group plc, the AIM listed property management and chartered surveying services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Larry Lipman to the Board of Directors in the role of Non-Executive Director.
Mr. Lipman co-founded AIM listed property company Safeland plc and has successfully de-merged/listed on AIM a number of companies from Safeland plc. These include Hercules Property Services, a residential management business and commercial property auctioneer, which won the best performing AIM share in its first year of trading; Bizspace, which was acquired by Highcross for £81.2m in 2006; and self-storage company Safestore, which, following a £44m management buyout, was re-listed and currently has a market cap of circa £375m.
Dechert advises Safeland plc on major new investment worth £50m
PRW - 20 September 2007
International law firm Dechert LLP advised the Safeland Active Management Unit Trust Fund (the Safeland Fund), administered by Safeland plc, on a new £50m capital investment by Babcock & Brown. The Safeland Fund is a Jersey property unit trust which invests in income producing UK property investments, where value can be added by active management.
It was established in October 2006 with a £15m investment from private equity house Electra together with an investment by Safeland of £1m. Safeland is responsible for identifying investment opportunities and for managing the properties which are acquired by the trust. To date, £47m (combined debt and equity) has already been invested in properties, all of which trade under the brand name "Flexspace" offering space, typically to small businesses, on short term renewable licences for use as offices, studios, workshops and other light industrial workspace.
Safeland plc specialises in property trading, refurbishment, development, investment, self storage and property fund management.
Lok’nStore attracts South African activist investor
- 20 September 2007
Activist investor Julian Treger has raised his stake in self-storage company Lok’nStore to 12.6%.
Through his vehicle Audley Capital Management Treger today revealed he had increased his shareholding from 2.66m to 3.38m shares for the Audley European Opportunities Master Fund.
Treger bought the shares on Monday, when Lok’nStore’s share price closed at its lowest price since November last year of 195p. The shares now stand at 198p, which values it at £53m. Lok’nStore is 29% owned by chief executive Andrew Jacobs and chairman Simon Thomas.
Treger built up a reputation as someone who rattles cages at Active Value Advisors, the aggressive fund manager that he co-founded with fellow South African Brian Myerson.
For the next decade chief executives would shiver at the thought of a call from Treger and Myerson. At a time when few people had heard of hedge funds, they described themselves as the ‘Rentokil of fund management’. They agitated for change at companies as diverse as Liberty, the department stores; Scholl, the footcare specialist; and the former Ratners jewellery chain Signet, by buying up stakes and lobbying management.
It also launched an audacious £275m hostile takeover of Hogg Robinson, the travel group, and tried to stop Cordiant, the advertising group, from being sold to WPP. Neither move was successful.
After splitting amicably in 2004, Myerson set up Principle Capital, which he floated on AIM that year, and Treger founded Audley Capita
EU climate change initiatives - Climate change: Not just another EU buzzword
A Weber Shandwick memo for FEDESSA - 24 August 2007
Further to Rodney Walker’s editorial “Building a Low carbon World” published in this year’s second volume of FOCUS, Weber Shandwick has drafted this note providing the FEDESSA Secretariat and members with an overview of the ever-growing EU policy debates about climate change and the multiplication of subsequent European initiatives aimed at fighting this phenomenon.
Climate change: an unquestioned challenge, a growing concern
In most countries, climate change and the growing impact of human activities on global warming are no longer questioned. There is a growing concern, shared by the vast majority of decision-makers and public opinion, about the impact of global warming on everyday life and, to a lesser extent, there is a shared willingness to act to mitigate its effects.
The mounting worry of European public opinion was confirmed by a Eurobarometer – an EU-wide survey – published last March. It shows that 87% of Europeans are concerned about the effects of climate change, in comparison to 47% back in October 2005.
Echoing these results, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has recently stated: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that will face humanity in the next 100 years... People all over
Against this background, all business sectors will be required to contribute to this fight.
The European Commission twofold strategy: limiting and adapting
At EU level, the European Commission, under the leadership of Environment Commissioner Dimas and Energy Commissioner Piebalgs, has developed a twofold strategy to tackle climate change.
Climate change indeed poses a double challenge:
- However, it is simply not possible to reverse climate conditions quickly. Even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow the climate would still continue to change for many decades to come. Even if catastrophies are prevented, climate change is a force that will change societies, economies and politics as surely as other forces such as globalisation. There is therefore a need to make changes to prepare for it. This is what "adaptation" is about.
Limiting climate change
The European Commission presented its so-called “Energy Package” in January 2007 proposing an integrated climate and energy strategy to tackle global warming and security of energy supply. It included a Communication on Limiting Global Climate Change to 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. EU Heads of State and Government orsed, at their March 2007 European Council, the proposed strategy and adopted a priority Action Plan to achieve by 2020 the following EU targets:
- Limiting global warming to 2°C;
- Reducing CO2 emissions by 20%;
- Improving energy efficiency by 20%;
- Having 20% of EU energy produced from renewable sources;
- Having 10% of transport fuels coming from biofuels.
The EU policy and regulatory machinery is clearly up and running, with the Commission having a clear mandate to deliver, over the next two years, on the agreed priority Action Plan.
A first series of follow-up initiatives are expected already this winter. The EC is indeed expected to adopt on 5 December three Directives aimed at limiting climate change:
- A Framework Directive on renewable energy in electricity, transport (biofuels) and heating & cooling;
- A Revision of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive;
- A Directive on the reduction of CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light duty vehicles .
In 2009, the integrated climate and energy strategy will be reviewed and another Action Plan will be proposed to progress towards the 2020 objectives.
Adapting to climate change
On 29 June 2007, the European Commission presented its long awaited Green Paper "Adapting to climate change in
The release of the Green Paper was accompanied by the launch of a web-based public consultation. The deadline for stakeholders’ input is 31 November 2007. November 2007 is also to witness the setting up of the European Advisory Group on Adaptation to Climate Change. Its first report is planned for mid 2008.
The Green Paper is expected to be followed by a Communication on adaptation (to be adopted at the of 2008) which will take up the policy options coming out of the consultation process.
An integrated approach
As dwelt upon above, the European Commission has adopted an integrated approach to fight climate change. Virtually all pieces of legislation in the European Commission pipeline take into account the necessity to limit and adapt to climate change. For instance and of relevance to FEDESSA:
- The upcoming Action Plan on Freight Transport Logistics, prepared by DG Energy and Transport (DG TREN), will aim at, inter alia , reducing bottlenecks and congestion to lessen the impact of freight transport on climate change.
- A review of the Directive on the energy efficiency of buildings is also expected to take place in the coming year.
European Parliament’s commitment
The European Commission is not the only EU institution involved in the fight against climate change. The European Parliament has multiplied calls for a strengthened policy in this domain and has recently set up a Temporary Committee on Climate Change. It is chaired by MEP Guido Sacconi (PES, I), and MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP-ED, G) was appointed rapporteur for drafting the Committee's conclusions.
The mandate of this Temporary Committee is to explore ways of mitigating climate change, advancing the debate on the post-Kyoto (2012) commitment period and scrutinising specific climate policy initiatives. The Committee will hold frequent workshops and public hearings with stakeholders to gauge best practice. The Committee will conclude its mandate by adopting a report scheduled for Spring/Summer 2008.
Forthcoming key milestones
The UN Bali Conference in December 2007 on the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Summit on energy and climate change in spring 2008 are the forthcoming two key events where major policy orientations are expected to be adopted.
Conclusions
EU decision-makers, with the support of the public opinion, are calling for the union of all stakeholders in the fight against climate change. There is an increasing pressure on companies to take pro-active actions to reduce their carbon footprint.
This can be perceived as a threat. However, companies already active in this field see this situation as a window of opportunity to showcase innovative and responsible corporate climate policies and gain competitive advantages over their competitors.
London Low Emission Zone
The Association has received a letter from the Transport for London explaining the Low Emission Zone which will apply from 4 February 2008. The aim is to reduce air pollution in the city centre of London and potentially this could affect you if you are within the Greater London boundary.
Further details can be read in the letter below under other news!
Career Opportunities in Self Storage!
- The UK self storage industry has seen rapid growth through out the country during recent years - achieving very high professional standards in customer service.
- All forecasts predict that the industry is set to expand even more in the future - this makes it a very exciting and rewarding time to be involved.
- New positions for Centre Managers and Assistant Managers to operate storage centres are being created every month.
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Career opportunities exist with most companies who are always looking for good, self-motivated people, ideally, with a sales or customer service background.
- Apply to the company directly for details of specific vacancies. Use our "Locate a Store" section to find companies in your area!
