Ways and Means

That is an entirely fair point. Without getting into either endogenous growth theories or Marxism, I would point out that the Minister is right to ask the question, but the answer is no. The problem is overcapacity, not rents that are too high. I will illustrate that with my next example. We have a large number of former military establishments in my constituency and in Wiltshire as a whole. One of them is the former royal naval armaments depot at Dean Hill, which was built in 1938 and became a major armaments depot, storing under the chalk hills enormous quantities of arms for the Royal Navy from Portsmouth, and latterly for the RAF as well after the closure of RAF Chilmark, which was another establishment that was redundant to the needs of the Ministry of Defence. The area is huge—some 500 acres with 1,600 sq m of office space. It has a variety of business units—more than 40 of them—and 24 vaults cut into the chalk offering more than 9,000 cu m of high quality dry, secure storage. That is where the bombs and depth charges were kept. The problem is how the Ministry of Defence disposes of property. It is part of the Chancellor’s remit to persuade the MOD to get rid of redundant property. After the property had been empty for years, a splendid company has taken over the site, bought it from the Ministry of Defence, and is successfully converting it to very attractive office and industrial premises in a wonderful environment, with a site of special scientific interest on the spot. I cannot speak warmly enough of the effort of Mr. Richard Parry and his company, who have taken a substantial risk. Having taken over 500 acres from the MOD with all those buildings and facilities, which they had expected to be able to bring into use over a number of years—with the agreement of the planning authorities in order to avoid overdevelopment, too much traffic on rural lanes in south-east Wiltshire and Hampshire and so on—they could now face a crushing liability for business rates if the measure is suddenly introduced now. That will dissuade investors like Mr. Parry. They simply will not do it. The holding costs of the property will be too great. What about valuation? The district valuers already value Ministry of Defence estates, but they put them on a low value because they are of military use or are not used at all. To return to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath, they are not producing business activity or generating wealth, so they currently do not qualify for taxation. What about the district valuer now? He has been to Dean Hill park and assessed individual buildings. As they are brought into use, the district valuer assesses them and the owners rightly start paying their business rate. What will happen in future? We need to be sure that Ministers have thought about that. Will they suddenly create an extra army of district valuers who can go round to all these Ministry of Defence sites and revalue hundreds of buildings and other facilities? Have they got the staff to do it? I guess not. When will the clock start ticking? Will people have to start paying this new business rate on 1 April next year or six months afterwards? Perhaps the Minister has not thought that question through yet, but I would be grateful if he could answer it. We see here, once again, the need for rural proofing. I wonder what the Ministry of Defence will say about this, given that the defence budget is still strapped, despite a modest increase in cash terms. The pressure on it is enormous. Will it be liable to pay the new business rates on all its empty industrial properties, given that it no longer enjoys Crown exemption? I would be grateful if the Minister could answer that, and I dare say his colleagues in the MOD would like an answer too. I have tried to draw the House’s attention to some of the problems that will affect everybody in rural areas, from large investors to very small family businesses, as well as farming communities. If we must have a window tax, let us make sure that it does not keep the light out.