LORD Bathurst has said that the trust he set up to manage land earmarked for 2,350 homes in Cirencester is registered in Bermuda – which means it avoids paying a UK tax.
He told the Standard that “the bulk of the land” that the proposed Chesterton development could be built on, has been held in the British island territory since 1997.
He said the Bathurst Trust PTC Limited was set up at the start of Tony Blair’s Labour government amid fears that Capital Gains Tax would sky-rocket.
Capital Gains Tax is the amount that the government of a country charges on the sale of an asset such as land, buildings, or stocks. At its highest under Labour the tax reached up to 40 per cent
while under the current Conservative government the tax is 28 per cent for trusts.
In Bermuda, there is zero Capital Gains Tax.
Avoiding tax by having a business or trust registered in another country is not illegal.
Lord Bathurst said: “It pays all English tax except Capital Gains and if we bring the money back over to the UK we will pay tax on it then.”
When asked whether he would consider bringing the land under the ownership of a British trust, Lord Bathurst replied: “The amount of time and money spent trying to put it in place I don’t think there’s any chance of that.
“I don’t think the people the people of Cirencester will lose out on much tax. They may lose out on something but once it’s watered down across the UK to the Outer Hebrides it won’t be very much.
When we put the trust into Bermuda we didn’t really think that far ahead, we just thought about the land and its value.
“Perhaps if we had our time again and we knew what the economic climate was right now we wouldn’t have done it.”
The housing plan has been contentious since it was first proposed in 2013.
Up to 50 per cent of the houses will be affordable and the development will include a primary school, GP surgery, community hall, sports centre and park.
The development will create much-needed housing and, according to the Bathurst’s plans, will create 352 jobs over the next 10 years.
Critics claim it will put pressure on Cirencester’s infrastructure, especially its roads.
Mark Pratley, chairman of Save Our Cirencester a group against over-development of the town, expressed “grave concerns” at the news.
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