0945 GMT
London
Tuesday
01 December 2009
That London local Councils are not working is shown every day.
Not that the BBC does the reporting every day.
On this occasion the BBC London news carried an item on Monday [30- November 2009] about ex President of the USA Bill Clinton being 'interested' in the 'progress' [lack of] housing solutions in Southwark with special reference to the Elephant and Castle area. If the BBC were edited better and really journalistically in accordance with the ethics and the codes that are on paper oft referred to whenever Mark Thompson is promoted by his gang then the standard of auditing the local councils would actually come into being. And it would improve daily. But the BBC is not edited that way. So we came across the ‘news’ only because Clinton used to be at the White House in Washington DC as its main occupant for those years concerned. Much more original and relevant and sound comments and views about the disastrous failures of London local councils are made daily by ordinary people. These are not duly reflected in the BBC bulletins. Just as the dissection of CRASSrail that we have been making in principle encompassing our updated analyses of and the environmental, social economic implications of the other failures daily, are not carried by or reflected in the BBC’s ‘daily journalism’ output to the ordinary public. This is collectively a crass failure by the publicly paid for Corporation. The failure must not be allowed to go on indefinitely. [To be continued]
33rd year AADHIKAR
0225 GMT Thursday 06 June 2013
AADHIKAR Media Foundation Editor © Muhammad Haque
Founding News Editor
Shah M Azizul Haque
AADHIKAR Media Foundation established with the publication of AADHIKAR the weekly on Monday 19 December 1980 from London E1 UK.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! Noting the belated and the still inadequate 'recognition' by the London Assembly ['who they'?] of crisis in existing transport system...
0855 Hrs GMT
London
Tuesday 01 December 2009:
Editor © Muhammad Haque.
This morning’s ‘local’ London news includes the aftermath of the fire in the Blackwall Tunnel and the rare event of the London assembly actually recognising that EXISTING tube lines are failing the travelling public…. This is to be put in context. That context is the KHOODEELAAR! Campaign position that ALL of the transport infrastructure has to be looked at and attended to, rather than stunts being staged by lying about the state of transport. And the stunts are staged every time a peddler or a tout for Big Business agenda Crossrail scam goes over the top – as their normal propensity - and hypes up the already over hyped ‘case’ for Crossrail while neglecting the deteriorating overall transport lines, routes, tunnels in, of and around London …….And those in the UK regions
[To be continued]
London
Tuesday 01 December 2009:
Editor © Muhammad Haque.
This morning’s ‘local’ London news includes the aftermath of the fire in the Blackwall Tunnel and the rare event of the London assembly actually recognising that EXISTING tube lines are failing the travelling public…. This is to be put in context. That context is the KHOODEELAAR! Campaign position that ALL of the transport infrastructure has to be looked at and attended to, rather than stunts being staged by lying about the state of transport. And the stunts are staged every time a peddler or a tout for Big Business agenda Crossrail scam goes over the top – as their normal propensity - and hypes up the already over hyped ‘case’ for Crossrail while neglecting the deteriorating overall transport lines, routes, tunnels in, of and around London …….And those in the UK regions
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! Noting the belated and the still confused 'legal' comment about CRASS tax assault for CRASSrail on smaller businesses by Boris Johnson –1
0225 GMT
London
Tuesday
01 December 2009
Editor © Muhammad Haque
KHOODEELAAR! Noting the belated and the still confused 'legal' comment about CRASS tax assault for CRASSrail on smaller businesses by Boris Johnson –1
The LAWYER magazine website is carrying a belated comment on aspects of CRASSrail tax being hyped up via Boris Johnson.
The LAWYER is not bothered about ethical law. Least of all about constitutional law. Had it been so, it would have carried most pieces of comment and journalism on the subject of Crossrail at least for five solid years.
That is, from the moment the Big business lobby got underway in 2003 and until July 2008 when the Crassly conceived Crossrail Bill was given the rubber stamp.
That is to say the ‘Crossrail Bill’ was said via Brenda’s palace, to have become part of the contents of the notional “Statute Book’.
The LAWYER was silent.
Five years of silence while objectors struggled in vain to get the peddlers see sense and to educate the MPs and Peers on their true duties.
On their honest options.
Both the CRASSrole-slotted Mps and their counterparts in the dungeon of sleaze ‘upstairs’ failed to choose that option. They chose to be stooges. And stooges they were.
And in that silence the LAWYER outfit performed a long lethal lying role.
Now, belatedly and ignorantly, it contrives to give ‘opinion’ about the CRASSRail, tax and on related pecuniary aspects.
It fails on the law.
Contextually
Evidentially
Constitutionally
[To be continued]
http://jobs.thelawyer.com/job/448455/legal-counsel-marketing-and-commercial
Train strain
30 November 2009
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The Greater London Authority is using new powers to force London businesses to stump up cash for the Crossrail project. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, says Duncan Field
_ Crossrail is expected to open in 2017 but businesses in London will start paying for it well before then and will continue to pay for decades to come.
Consultation on the Mayor of London’s Initial Prospectus for the Crossrail _Business Rate Supplement (BRS) ended in October. The prospectus proposes a BRS of 2p per £1 of rateable value on individual business properties with rateable values of more than £50,000, with effect from April 2010. This is also the date when the 2010 National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) revaluation takes effect, and the Crossrail BRS will be calculated on these higher values. Once this revaluation is taken into account, the _Crossrail BRS is likely to affect around _20-25 per cent of businesses in London.
The Mayor intends to levy the Crossrail BRS for up to 30 years. It will be used by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to repay the £3.5bn of borrowing that it will draw down between 2010 and 2015 to finance its contribution to the estimated £15.9bn _capital cost of Crossrail. The _precise _duration of the Crossrail BRS is dependent on the interest that the GLA has to pay on its borrowing, but the target revenue from the BRS is _approximately £7.7bn (£3.5m _capital, £3.6bn in interest and financing costs and a £600m surplus payable to Transport for London during the eight-year _construction programme).
The Business Rate Supplements Act
This is the first example of an authority using its powers under the Business Rate Supplements Act 2009, which came into force on 19 August. _Upper-tier English local authorities (county councils, unitary authorities and the GLA) now have the power to impose a BRS on the NNDR to fund projects that promote ‘economic development’. There are a number of provisos:
_. The BRS revenue must be used only for new projects that promote local economic development and not services that an authority is already obliged to provide, such as housing, education or health services.
_. The authority determines the duration of the BRS.
_. The national upper limit to the BRS is 2p per £1 of rateable value.
_. All properties with a rateable value of £50,000 or less are exempt from BRS.
_. The authority can introduce relief from BRS and can allow Business Improvement District (BID) levies to be offset against the BRS.
_. The authority must first publish an initial prospectus setting out its proposals for the BRS and consult with ratepayers and district councils. This is followed by a final _prospectus before the BRS is introduced.
_#If the BRS revenue will exceed one-third of the total cost of the project, the authority must hold a ballot of the ratepayers who are potentially liable to pay the BRS; in other cases the authority may also hold a ballot if it wishes. For the BRS to pass the ballot there has to be a majority in favour by reference to both the number of votes and the aggregate rateable value of the voters’ properties.
There will be no ballot for the Crossrail BRS as the GLA estimates that it will raise only 21 per cent of the total cost of the project. In any event, the 2009 act introduced an exemption for the GLA from the ballot requirement in relation to any BRS that takes effect by 1 April 2011. In the initial prospectus, the GLA has decided that BID levies will not be offset against the Crossrail BRS (there are about 20 BIDs operating in London) and has provisionally taken the view that the Crossrail BRS should be payable on empty properties, unless they are exempt under NNDR.
This is not the only measure that the Mayor is consulting on to secure private sector funding for Crossrail. The Mayor is looking to raise £300m from contributions under planning obligations (also known as Section 106 agreements).
Contributions will be sought from office developments involving net increases of more than 500 square metres in Central London (£160 per square metre), the _northern part of the Isle of Dogs (£218.30 per square metre) and, where appropriate, in other areas of _London. In addition, the Mayor is expecting to raise a further £300m for Crossrail from the _proposed _Community Infrastructure Levy.
In the longer term, all this may be _palatable for London businesses, but with the economy still in a fragile condition, the timing could clearly be better.
_Duncan Field is a partner in the planning and environment group at SJ Berwin
London
Tuesday
01 December 2009
Editor © Muhammad Haque
KHOODEELAAR! Noting the belated and the still confused 'legal' comment about CRASS tax assault for CRASSrail on smaller businesses by Boris Johnson –1
The LAWYER magazine website is carrying a belated comment on aspects of CRASSrail tax being hyped up via Boris Johnson.
The LAWYER is not bothered about ethical law. Least of all about constitutional law. Had it been so, it would have carried most pieces of comment and journalism on the subject of Crossrail at least for five solid years.
That is, from the moment the Big business lobby got underway in 2003 and until July 2008 when the Crassly conceived Crossrail Bill was given the rubber stamp.
That is to say the ‘Crossrail Bill’ was said via Brenda’s palace, to have become part of the contents of the notional “Statute Book’.
The LAWYER was silent.
Five years of silence while objectors struggled in vain to get the peddlers see sense and to educate the MPs and Peers on their true duties.
On their honest options.
Both the CRASSrole-slotted Mps and their counterparts in the dungeon of sleaze ‘upstairs’ failed to choose that option. They chose to be stooges. And stooges they were.
And in that silence the LAWYER outfit performed a long lethal lying role.
Now, belatedly and ignorantly, it contrives to give ‘opinion’ about the CRASSRail, tax and on related pecuniary aspects.
It fails on the law.
Contextually
Evidentially
Constitutionally
[To be continued]
http://jobs.thelawyer.com/job/448455/legal-counsel-marketing-and-commercial
Train strain
30 November 2009
_. Print
_. Email
_.
_. Share
_. Save
The Greater London Authority is using new powers to force London businesses to stump up cash for the Crossrail project. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, says Duncan Field
_ Crossrail is expected to open in 2017 but businesses in London will start paying for it well before then and will continue to pay for decades to come.
Consultation on the Mayor of London’s Initial Prospectus for the Crossrail _Business Rate Supplement (BRS) ended in October. The prospectus proposes a BRS of 2p per £1 of rateable value on individual business properties with rateable values of more than £50,000, with effect from April 2010. This is also the date when the 2010 National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) revaluation takes effect, and the Crossrail BRS will be calculated on these higher values. Once this revaluation is taken into account, the _Crossrail BRS is likely to affect around _20-25 per cent of businesses in London.
The Mayor intends to levy the Crossrail BRS for up to 30 years. It will be used by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to repay the £3.5bn of borrowing that it will draw down between 2010 and 2015 to finance its contribution to the estimated £15.9bn _capital cost of Crossrail. The _precise _duration of the Crossrail BRS is dependent on the interest that the GLA has to pay on its borrowing, but the target revenue from the BRS is _approximately £7.7bn (£3.5m _capital, £3.6bn in interest and financing costs and a £600m surplus payable to Transport for London during the eight-year _construction programme).
The Business Rate Supplements Act
This is the first example of an authority using its powers under the Business Rate Supplements Act 2009, which came into force on 19 August. _Upper-tier English local authorities (county councils, unitary authorities and the GLA) now have the power to impose a BRS on the NNDR to fund projects that promote ‘economic development’. There are a number of provisos:
_. The BRS revenue must be used only for new projects that promote local economic development and not services that an authority is already obliged to provide, such as housing, education or health services.
_. The authority determines the duration of the BRS.
_. The national upper limit to the BRS is 2p per £1 of rateable value.
_. All properties with a rateable value of £50,000 or less are exempt from BRS.
_. The authority can introduce relief from BRS and can allow Business Improvement District (BID) levies to be offset against the BRS.
_. The authority must first publish an initial prospectus setting out its proposals for the BRS and consult with ratepayers and district councils. This is followed by a final _prospectus before the BRS is introduced.
_#If the BRS revenue will exceed one-third of the total cost of the project, the authority must hold a ballot of the ratepayers who are potentially liable to pay the BRS; in other cases the authority may also hold a ballot if it wishes. For the BRS to pass the ballot there has to be a majority in favour by reference to both the number of votes and the aggregate rateable value of the voters’ properties.
There will be no ballot for the Crossrail BRS as the GLA estimates that it will raise only 21 per cent of the total cost of the project. In any event, the 2009 act introduced an exemption for the GLA from the ballot requirement in relation to any BRS that takes effect by 1 April 2011. In the initial prospectus, the GLA has decided that BID levies will not be offset against the Crossrail BRS (there are about 20 BIDs operating in London) and has provisionally taken the view that the Crossrail BRS should be payable on empty properties, unless they are exempt under NNDR.
This is not the only measure that the Mayor is consulting on to secure private sector funding for Crossrail. The Mayor is looking to raise £300m from contributions under planning obligations (also known as Section 106 agreements).
Contributions will be sought from office developments involving net increases of more than 500 square metres in Central London (£160 per square metre), the _northern part of the Isle of Dogs (£218.30 per square metre) and, where appropriate, in other areas of _London. In addition, the Mayor is expecting to raise a further £300m for Crossrail from the _proposed _Community Infrastructure Levy.
In the longer term, all this may be _palatable for London businesses, but with the economy still in a fragile condition, the timing could clearly be better.
_Duncan Field is a partner in the planning and environment group at SJ Berwin