‘A deeply broken system’: is it time England abandoned council tax?

In London, rates for Battersea power station's 8m flats are still set with reference to its low-value past, and their rich owners pay less than householders in Hartlepool

Battersea power station offered no prospect of luxury living when Tony Belton became a local councillor in 1971. The coal-fired behemoth was nearing closure after 40 years of belching soot over London, and would spend almost as long in dereliction and blight as a result of false starts at redevelopment.

By 1991, most people visiting the area were there for the dogs' home or council rubbish dump. Squatting pigeons were the power station's only residents, and steel bracing protected its 48-metre-high brick walls fromcollapse.