Proposed Budget (Government Plan) 2026-2029 (P.70/2025): amendment (P.70/2025 Amd.) – comments. Development Levies
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STATES OF JERSEY
PROPOSED BUDGET (GOVERNMENT PLAN) 2026-2029 (P.70/2025): AMENDMENT (P.70/2025 AMD.) – COMMENTS
Presented to the States on 4th December 2025 by the Council of Ministers
STATES GREFFE
2025 P.70 Amd. Com.
COMMENTS
For the below reasons, it is recommended that this amendment be rejected. The Government's commitment to this work is clear and the proposed phased strategy, outlined below, ensures that progress can be made now, using existing resources, while laying the foundations for a robust and comprehensive development levy in the future.
The Council of Ministers recognises that whilst the principle of introducing a development levy has received consistent support,1 progress to date has been limited. This is largely due to a lack of internal capacity and restricted access to the technical expertise required to design a comprehensive policy and legislative framework. This is a complex and highly technical area of policy and legislation.
Rather than allocating £100,000 for the technical assessment needed to create a fully comprehensive development levy, Ministers consider a phased approach to be more appropriate. This initial work could be delivered using in-house resources and expertise across government, funded from existing budgets.
The initial phase could focus on assessing the viability of applying a levy to sites rezoned for affordable housing, where land value uplift is most evident. This is identified as a critical issue in Deputy Kovacs ' proposed amendment and supported by Ministers.
By starting with targeted sites or forms of development, Jersey can move forward with confidence toward a more comprehensive levy in the future - one that extends beyond rezoned sites. Such a broader system would require a more detailed technical assessment and external support, informed by lessons learned during the initial phase. This phased approach acknowledges the complexity of levy systems and the need for careful design aligned with market conditions, ensuring that unintended consequences are avoided while safeguarding housing supply and planning efficiency.
1 See Bridging Island Plan Proposal 7: Sustainable communities fund and States Assembly | P.14/2023
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P.70/2025 Amd. Com.