[Clips] Prescott unleashes spy satellites to check on home improvements

[R. A. Hettinga]

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 The Sunday Times

 January 01, 2006

 Prescott unleashes spy satellites to check on home improvements



 THE government has advised council-tax inspectors to use "spy in the sky"
 satellite cameras to snoop on people's homes to see if they have added
 extensions, conservatories and even sheds that could boost the value of
 their property, writes David Cracknell.

 The Tories have unearthed official documents which show that John Prescott,
 the deputy prime minister, plans to use pictures from space as part of his
 revaluation of homes across England.

 The data will be used to reband people's homes over the next few years,
 meaning that property owners whose houses have shot up in value face higher
 council tax bills.

 The government has postponed a full council tax revaluation but Prescott's
 department is putting together a database of every home in England so that
 the levy more accurately reflects the true value of properties across the
 country.

 Even minor improvements, invisible from the road, will be caught by the
 technology. Caroline Spelman, the Conservative local government
 spokeswoman, said the move amounted to a "new stealth tax on home
 improvements".

 Country homes will be at particular risk from the technology. According to
 an official handbook for inspectors: "Aerial photographs are particularly
 effective in rural areas where improvements are hard to see from the road."

 Spelman accused Prescott of invading the privacy of people who worked to
 improve their homes and penalising those who extended rather than moved to
 bigger homes.

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 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'