EDITOR’S COMMENT: Hope is an interesting word isn’t it? A magical word. I’ve been thinking a lot about it this week.
With June being Pride month I am ever hopeful that this industry of ours will be one full of allies. An industry welcoming to absolutely everyone, whoever they love, however they identify. Hope.
I’m also full of hope for the industry as this week is the week our next cohort of Future Leaders do their thing up on stage and remind us that there is much this sector can do. Much that they are going to do. I don’t need to hope that they’ll be brilliant, but I do need to hope that the industry will lean in and understand how important and how vital their messages are.
However, I have lost hope in the leadership of this country. How can we stand behind a man who decides to change the ministerial code just to suit him? How can we stand behind someone and put our trust in someone who – because they have none – removes a big section of that code based on ethics, who doesn’t value “integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest”?
And, while I speak to so many people in this industry who also would not stand by this, there are still so many who back, fund and publicly support this kind of leadership. It is that which makes me feel hopeless.
I was drawn to the idea of hope in a different context this week too. A consultation on CPO compensation was released, all part of the levelling up agenda, on 6 June. The consultation seeks to simplify the CPO process. There is nothing wrong with that. I’m sure many would agree it needs simplification. But for government – at least from mine, and some experts’ reading of it – simplification seems really to mean reduce the compensation. Reduce or remove the hope value, enabling councils to CPO land at close to its existing value.
I’m torn on this issue. From a social impact point of view, we definitely should be enabling councils and government to secure land to create the spaces and places needed for regeneration. For affordable housing, for job creation. And they shouldn’t have to pay over the odds for that.
But also, real estate is a business. People don’t just buy land to give it away. People should be able to spot an opportunity and find value in that. Sure, there will be some players out there that do that without integrity and honesty, but there will be plenty of others that do it because they hope they can create something valuable. For them and for others.
What we need is collaboration. The more the public and private sector can talk to each other, listen to each other and, most importantly, understand each other, the more we will be able to deliver. Imagine a world where CPO is not needed. A world where no one has to be forced to sell, where they chose to work together to deliver something better. Something that works.
Surely that is better. It will, undoubtedly, be harder than just changing the rules, but it would be better. It would be the right thing to do. The honest thing to do. The transparent way to approach regeneration. It would be the approach that truly puts the public interest at the heart of decision making.
The nation’s leader may have removed the need to act with integrity, but this industry cannot. It will not. That is my hope.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews
