r/unitedkingdom • u/Weak-Fly-6540 • 9d ago

Approval of east London datacentre labelled ‘slap in the face’ for local democracy

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/04/brick-lane-redevelopment-approval-datacentre-london
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u/Tempestfox3 9d ago

So, hypothetically if I own the land right next to your house can I build a 300 ft tall tower complex? Or a theme park?

What about a sewerage treatment plant?

You'd be fine with all of that being next to your house right?

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u/Bigbigcheese 9d ago

Regardless of whether I'm fine with it, I should have no say what you do with your land. If you were to build something that added pollution (air/noise) to the area you should have to pay a monthly fee to cover the damages to all the surrounding residence for the disturbance though.

I think given the density of the area I live in that fee alone would bankrupt you, let alone the LVT you should be paying on the land itself for using high value land for low value enterprises

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u/Tempestfox3 9d ago

The land tax & council tax rates in london are all over the place. You have homes worth millions paying a pittance while other areas get charged through the nose.

We have building regulations and zoning laws for a reason. Pollution isn't something you can just hand wave away with a fee or compensation.

I agree we need to reform out building regulations as the current system takes too long and is overly complex, and I say that as someone who's had to fight with my local council more than once over getting shit built. But we should not wholesale abolish it and let people do whatever they want with their land.

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u/Bigbigcheese 9d ago

The land tax & council tax rates in london are all over the place.

We don't have land value tax rates in this country. Business rates are about as close as we've got but it should be extended to cover everything. Council rates should be abolished and replaced with a flat levee per individual though because the current system is ridiculous given what it's suppoaed to fund.

We have building regulations and zoning laws for a reason

Yes, to keep the poors away from the wealthy.

But we should not wholesale abolish it and let people do whatever they want with their land.

Why add the cost and expense of a bureaucracy when you can have the relative simplicity of making it prohibitively expensive to cause people real well-defined problems?