{"id":29247,"date":"2025-10-26T11:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T11:44:31","slug":"stealth-tax-increase-could-cost-of-house-building","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247","title":{"rendered":"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">A controversial treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste threatens to derail the government&#8217;s ambitious housebuilding targets and add tens of thousands of pounds to the cost of new homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Ministers plan to raise the levy on disposing of soil and rock from building sites from \u00a34.05 per tonne to over \u00a3126 per tonne within five years\u2014a staggering 3,000% increase. The move would align construction waste disposal costs with household waste rates and could generate at least \u00a31 billion by decade&#8217;s end.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Impact on housing targets<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The proposal has created internal government tensions, with the housing department reportedly &#8220;blindsided&#8221; by the treasury plan and actively seeking to block it. Officials worry the tax hike fundamentally undermines the government&#8217;s commitment to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2030.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Research by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) analysing over 8,300 homes currently under construction found the new charges would add an average \u00a315,000 per property. Sites with difficult terrain could see costs surge by more than \u00a350,000 per home, potentially rendering many developments financially unviable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">For the 8,300 homes studied, total additional costs would reach \u00a3121 million. The HBF warns numerous projects would simply become economically impossible.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Brownfield sites hit hardest<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The policy would particularly harm brownfield development, where existing materials must be cleared before construction begins. This contradicts government priorities to regenerate previously developed land rather than building on greenfield sites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Beyond housing, the steel industry has raised alarms. UK Steel warns the tax would add \u00a31 million annually per company for disposing of production residues such as asbestos, slag and refractory dust, further damaging British steelmaking competitiveness and potentially pushing production overseas.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Political backlash<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Ben Houchen, Conservative mayor of Tees Valley overseeing a major industrial regeneration project, accused the government of ignoring real-world consequences. He argued the policy would &#8220;grind the construction sector to a halt&#8221; and make regeneration unaffordable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">&#8220;While they talk about growth, they&#8217;re simultaneously making it harder to deliver on the ground,&#8221; Houchen said, contrasting Britain&#8217;s approach with other countries actively encouraging construction.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Treasury defense<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The treasury maintains the increase would discourage waste misdescription and promote material recycling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">A spokesman emphasised the government&#8217;s commitment to homebuilding and stated they&#8217;re consulting businesses about the tax&#8217;s impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Last year, approximately 14.4 million tonnes of waste paid the lower rate or were exempt. If all paid the new rate by 2030, it would generate an additional \u00a31.8 billion annually\u2014revealing the significant revenue motivation behind the proposal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">This proposal clearly amounts to a straightforward tax grab that prioritises short-term revenue over long-term housing delivery and economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9<a href=\"http:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/INDEX\/INDEX1.html\">www.PropertySurveying.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A controversial treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste threatens to derail the government&#8217;s ambitious housebuilding targets and add tens of thousands of pounds to the cost of new homes. Ministers plan to raise the levy on disposing of soil and rock from building sites from \u00a34.05 per tonne to over \u00a3126 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Stealth tax increase could cost of house building&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22876,"parent":22321,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"folder":[561],"class_list":["post-29247","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-27T11:44:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/builders-on-building-site.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247\",\"name\":\"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/builders-on-building-site.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-26T10:40:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-27T11:44:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/builders-on-building-site.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/builders-on-building-site.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":280,\"caption\":\"builders on building site\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=29247#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Property Construction\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=22321\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"description\":\"The NEWSLETTER\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"width\":240,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/PropertySurveying\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","description":"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","og_description":"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs","og_url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247","og_site_name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying","article_modified_time":"2026-01-27T11:44:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":280,"url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/builders-on-building-site.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247","name":"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/builders-on-building-site.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-26T10:40:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-27T11:44:31+00:00","description":"treasury proposal to dramatically increase landfill taxes on construction waste which may impact on house building costs","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/builders-on-building-site.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/builders-on-building-site.jpg","width":1200,"height":280,"caption":"builders on building site"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=29247#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Property Construction","item":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=22321"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Stealth tax increase could cost of house building"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","description":"The NEWSLETTER","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","width":240,"height":50,"caption":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29247\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ffolder&post=29247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}