HOUSE BUILDING (EFFECT OF COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING LEVY)

That this House notes with despair the recent introduction of two new and additional taxes in 2012 on people wishing to build their own home, the community infrastructure levy and the affordable housing levy; further notes with huge concern that a couple wishing to build their own home, either themselves or through hiring local companies, now face around £35,000 in new taxes in order to do so and even higher amounts in London and the South East; further notes that in former mining areas this can equate to a third of the value of the new home; further notes that people are already abandoning plans to build a house because of these new taxes; and calls on the Housing Minister and the Department of Communities and Local Government to exempt individual developments from these taxes, establish a threshold for the number of dwellings in a development below which they will not apply and give a boost to the aspiration of people and the small businesses who lose out the most from these unfair taxes.