Labour’s Budget threatens to put an end to a “period of stability for the country house”, the owner of a 12th-century castle has warned.
Jason Lindsay, who owns Hedingham Castle in Halstead, says Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tweak to the business property relief (BPR) scheme has left him feeling “so angry” because it might ensnare sales of not just land but houses too.
The Grade I-listed Norman keep, which is pride of place in the Essex town, was built in around 1140, with the owners living in a Grade II*-listed Georgian house opposite.
Lindsay says the property has been “sort of affordable” up until now thanks to it being set up under a discretionary trust with business property relief applied on top.
But Labour is set to pull the relief “from under our feet” and are saying they have to pay three per cent, which is like “getting another large mortgage”.
More holistically, he says, the Budget has the potential to put an end to a period of stability for the country house.
Accusing Sir Keir Starmer’s party of “cultural vandalism”, he pointed to report published in 1950 by civil servant Sir Ernest Gowers who concluded that old families running big houses was the most economic solution to maintaining the properties.
Lindsay has urges the Government to commission a similar report today, and says he would be glad to host officials.
“Come and see what the economics are, talk to the people who work here, look at the jobs that we create, have a word with the visitors.”
He added that this isn’t about “monocled owners,” but heritage which is “worth saving”.
“I get that the Government has to raise money, and we have got to work out a way to have a dialogue with them. If they’re just blindly going to say, ‘Right, let’s tax you out of existence’, the damage they’re going to do will be unreconcilable.”
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