Two cheers for the Housing and Planning Bill. It could have gone further, but it’s a step in the right direction, with a bit more certainty on planning and prospects for turning talk into action on tackling the housing crisis.
Alongside this, confirmation that office-to-resi office conversions under permitted development rights will be a permanent fixture of the planning regime will provide welcome certainty, though will annoy many. Giving developers three years to deliver schemes is tacit acknowledgement perhaps that some have been left in limbo by the current uncertainty. And allowing developers to demolish as well as convert under PDR will help avoid unnecessarily expensive conversions where rebuilding makes more sense. It will, however, have to be policed carefully.
It also takes the government’s pledge to build a million homes by 2020 from aspiration to commitment. Knighthoods all round for the ministerial team if they manage to deliver on what seems an unrealistically ambitious target.
But no less significant a commitment is the requirement for local authorities to have local plans in place by 2017. If 2020 is frighteningly near, 2017 should give real pause for thought and cause for action. If missed, central government will step in. There are real issues here around resource, but drift is not an option, thankfully.
It is a promising package of measures that should spur small builders and indirectly support the private rented sector too.
However, it heaps more pressure on council planning departments and at its heart is a target that I suspect will be qualified in some way at a later date. That said, it’s better to aim high.
There is no time to waste.
China Vanke is buying into The Stage, the colossal Shoreditch scheme which has consent for a 40-storey residential tower and more than 250,000 sq ft of offices, shops and leisure uses set around an acre of public space.
It is buying a 20% stake for a shade over £30m. But the money is not the most important aspect. The position means it will ultimately invest alongside Cain Hoy, McCourt Global, Galliard and Investec to create the £750m scheme.
More than that, it shows that while Malaysian money is retreating – Anbang’s purchase of the Heron Tower looks to have fallen out of bed, while Tamasek has pulled out of Blue Fin – there is still Chinese and Far Eastern money willing to look at London.
Note there will be a delegation of at least 100 Chinese investors, developers and construction companies at MIPIM UK next week.
They are still worth pursuing.
Business improvement districts have their fans and detractors. Delivered well, they benefit businesses and local authorities, the public realm and the public alike. Delivered poorly, they go unnoticed by residents, are avoided by local authorities and become resented by the businesses that fund them.
A new BID should avoid the fate of the latter. It is the second of its kind and it aims to raise £16m to galvanise investment into the West End of London.
Unlike the current New West End Company, which is occupier-focused, this one will unite landlords across 25 streets, including Oxford Street and Regent Street. It will focus on lobbying and improving the public realm. CBRE suggests that spending £10m of the BID levy on improving Bond Street would increase rental and capital values by up to 8%, trebling landlords’ returns on their contributions.
To put plans into action, however, a ballot next month needs to be won. The real victory though will be demonstrable improvement soon after launch, mooted for January.
