BY GEORGE, IT’S BUDGET DAY!

BY GEORGE, IT’S BUDGET DAY!

Today’s the day – amid all of the speculation, Chancellor George Osborne will finally unveil his 2016 Budget.
As well as the usual debates about the prospect of rises in duty at the petrol and beer pumps, there are plenty more prospective policies which could have a significant effect.
As a leading firm of chartered surveyors  providing coverage nationally we will be watching out for announcements focusing on property and construction.
According to some analysts, the Chancellor may tweak his proposals to create 200,000 new starter homes.
His initial plans were reliant on a planning shake-up which would allow builders to develop under-used or unviable brownfield land and free them from planning costs and levies.
The scheme also relied on the creation of new ‘garden cities’, which may now instead become ‘garden suburbs ’ to bolster housing stock on the outskirts of existing urban areas.
Mr Osborne is also expected to announce the final details of the additional 3% levy on second homes and investment properties although it would be no surprise to see him delay the introduction of the scheme by 12 months.
Beyond these specific schemes it is crucial that the Chancellor takes every step to shore up business – and public – confidence.
We will be watching with interest. Although the prospects for a ‘giveaway’ budget are less than magical, the Chancellor usually manages to pull a rabbit of some kind out of the hat on Budget Day…
See what he comes up with; his speech starts at 12.30pm and can be watch live on TV or online, including on the BBC website atwww.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35753169.
It’s also worth visiting www.gov.uk/governme…/…/budget-2016-chancellor-announces-datefor more about the Budget.
No doubt Twitter and Facebook will be alive with comments after his announcement.  Like us on Facebook under taylor wilkinson