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The theoretical case for land value capture is well-known, but the effectiveness of affordable housing delivery as a capture mechanism is not so well-documented. Building on the earlier theoretical and empirical work of Whitehead (1991, 2007) and Crook and Whitehead (2002), the purpose of this paper is to consider the provision of affordable housing from a land value capture viewpoint, focusing on the process by which the amount of affordable housing is determined between landowners/developers on the one hand and local planning authorities on the other.

The paper adopts a mixed-mode approach for the data collection. Two surveys of local planning authorities were undertaken, together with a series of case study interviews.

The paper evaluates whether land value capture has been an effective mechanism for delivering affordable housing by focusing on three principal areas: first, the political agenda in relation to land value capture and the supply of affordable housing; second, the nature and motivation of the stakeholders involved in affordable housing decision-making; and third, the use of economic models as decision tools for determining the amount and type of affordable housing are negotiated.

The research provides some insight into the effectiveness of local authority affordable housing targets as a means of capturing the uplift in land value that results from the grant of planning permission.

Since the Audit Commission’s report on local authority property management in 1987 and subsequent publications, there has been substantial investment in geographic and land information systems (GIS/LIS) by local government. This paper reviews the issues associated with the uptake of information technology (IT) for property management within local government, taking the Audit Commission’s findings as its starting point. It considers how authorities have taken up new technologies and describes progress in this area. British Standard BS 7666 for geographical referencing presents new opportunities for integrated property management in local authorities. The paper discusses this development, drawing on examples from local authorities. The paper concludes by examining the Western Australian Land Information System (WALIS). This is an example of how information sharing between local and central government organisations can add value to data sets collected and maintained by each, reduce duplication of effort and offer a more consistent service.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the impact of an “Early Steps Physical Education Curriculum” (ESPEC) in children's attitudes and awareness toward a healthy lifestyle in early childhood. ESPEC was a part of a five-European country intervention program named “Early Steps” project. Early Steps project was a European Union funded initiation that targeted at improving children's healthy lifestyle and social development. The main philosophy behind the “Early Steps” project was the use of physical education activities to help children acquire the basic knowledge of social interaction skills, and healthy and active lifestyle. The ESPEC was designed to improve children's awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. The curriculum comprised of 24 physical education lessons, which aimed through the acquisition of several motor skills at making children in early childhood engage more actively in a healthy lifestyle. Results showed that children developed several healthy habits through their participation in play experiences provided by the “ESPEC for healthy lifestyle.” Such findings could lead to the conclusion that (a) children's attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle can be influenced positively and enhanced in a carefully organized physical education program and (b) curriculum-based initiatives that aim at improving children's attitudes and behaviors, such as the “ESPEC for healthy lifestyle” program, can be implemented effectively in early childhood education.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of choices of model structure and scale in development viability appraisal. The paper addresses two questions concerning the application of development appraisal techniques to viability modelling within the UK planning system. The first relates to the extent to which, given intrinsic input uncertainty, the choice of model structure significantly affects model outputs. The second concerns the extent to which, given intrinsic input uncertainty, the level of model complexity significantly affects model outputs.

Monte Carlo simulation procedures are applied to a hypothetical development scheme in order to measure the effects of model aggregation and structure on model output variance.

It is concluded that, given the particular scheme modelled and unavoidably subjective assumptions of input variance, that simple and simplistic models may produce similar outputs to more robust and disaggregated models. Evidence is found of equifinality in the outputs of a simple, aggregated model of development viability relative to more complex, disaggregated models.

Development viability appraisal has become increasingly important in the planning system. Consequently, the theory, application and outputs from development appraisal are under intense scrutiny from a wide range of users. However, there has been very little published evaluation of viability models. This paper contributes to the limited literature in this area.

Given the centrality of data and information to the evaluation and operation of policies to reduce carbon emissions, the purpose of this paper is to investigate potential sources of data within in the UK on the commercial building stock in terms of its physical characteristics, financial performance, energy consumption and environmental performance. The research aimed to increase understanding of the potential sources of data on property attributes, financial performance and energy use or environmental performance, with a particular emphasis on evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in terms of scope, quality, availability and practicability.

This is an explorative, qualitative study that uses semi‐structured interviews conducted with 11 different data holding organisations.

Whilst public sector organisations have the potential to provide the data required for large samples, there are major barriers to obtaining and linking the different databases. Data on the three key data elements (prices, attributes and environmental performance) tend to be split between different governmental agencies. There are likely to be substantial problems (and costs) of linking the databases due, in particular, to definitional differences. There is a conflict between government's public good objective of increasing knowledge of the environmental performance of buildings and its objective of maximising revenues from the commercial exploitation of data. Since the private sector organisations that hold data are commercially motivated, the samples that they have gathered are largely client driven and, consequently, tend to be partial, particular, proprietary, private and product‐related.

Since pricing studies are central to evaluating the effectiveness of eco‐labelling in property markets, this paper improves one's understanding of the role of information and data barriers to improving the allocative efficiency of commercial property markets.

Several problems arise from the current valuation standards and guidance in relation to the replacement cost method and they can be classified as definitional and methodological. Definitional problems include confusion over the precise meaning of the terms cost, price and value and clarification of the economic concepts of substitution and “highest and best use” in the cases of market‐based and replacement cost methods. Methodological problems include the difficulty in finding market‐derived inputs, particularly when estimating depreciation, and the need to make end adjustments. These matters raise the question as to whether a replacement cost method is compatible with a market basis of value. This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper reviews academic literature and professional practice guidance in relation to the replacement cost method of valuation and the market value basis of valuation.

Defining replacement cost as a method of estimating market value rather than a separate basis of value blurs the distinction between cost and value. This paper argues that market value assumptions do not hold in the case of the replacement cost method.

The paper seeks to stimulate debate on the current professional guidance for the use of the replacement cost method of valuation.

Property valuers in England and Wales face a difficult task; they must collect and assimilate data from a variety of sources which differ widely with regard to quality, currency and coverage. This is because of legislative restrictions on access to public sector data sources and organizational constraints on access to property data within the private sector, such as confidentiality and commercial secrecy. Proposes a system for the dissemination of property data for valuation and other property‐related procedures, namely, a National Land Information Service (NLIS). Suggests that a NLIS should be developed using geographical information system technology. Describes a methodology which shows how a spatial analysis technique available on a GIS was used to examine the influence of accessibility on property value.