Letter: Land row offers clue to recovery

THE furore over the possible investigation of SNP Cllr Anthea Dickson in relation to blocking of a Scottish Enterprise Project in Ayrshire imbues me with a sense of déjà vu (News, 15 April).

Here again is a councillor connected with a political problem that, as Benjamin Disraeli reminded us about many political problems, eventually boils down to the ownership of land. In this case, concerning land adjacent to the proposed development site, which is apparently in tenure by members of Cllr Dickson’s family.

This latter piece of land has planning permission for housing and, through that planning permission, had acquired a high site value, that may now be compromised by commercial development. What is driving this controversy is the speculation in Land Rental Value (LRV), that has fuelled many similar incidents of controversy over the years in relation to elected representatives and property development.

Speculation in LRV is behind the strategic societal inequity we endure and indeed the recession, spawned not by speculation in bricks and mortar property per se, but in the LRV of the underlying land.

Land has no capital value and its rental value is entirely created by societal demand. A 100 per cent collection of the annual LRV to replace all direct taxation on labour and buildings would provide a recession busting stimulus, raise a vast source of public revenue and end any possible accusation of local political chicanery in land acquisition.

Ron Greer, Blair Atholl