With as many as one in three UK high streets failing or in terminal decline, where should the government have prioritised investment in recent years?
Responses to our first Big Question poll, conducted in August, read like a list of suggestions for this week’s review by Mary Portas on the future of the high street. “High streets need to be more accessible with lower parking charges to compete against the big out-of-town retail centres,” said one respondent. “Change in the high street is inevitable, but the current demise is exacerbated by poor council policies, specifically around planning and parking.” What was that you said, Mary?
What can the property sector contribute in order to prevent a recurrence of this summer’s riots?
Our thanks to one respondent following the riots: “Estates Gazette’s campaign ‘Building a Better Britain’ will add considerable weight to tackling the problems of last week’s riots. The panel will require perseverance, understanding and commitment. The issues are complex and deep-rooted. Quick-fix, cash injections by the government will only gloss over the problems in the short term, and getting to the root cause will require a more long-term exploration.” The panel reported initial findings last month and will follow up in the new year. Perseverance indeed.
What do you think of the government’s National Planning Policy Framework, which cuts 1,000 pages of planning policy down to just 50?
This question, from August, divided respondents. “It’s politically-driven passing the buck while pretending to care about the electorate, just like education policies. We’ll end in a worse situation than we have now,” said one angry respondent. “This is a change to a system that has been needed for a very long time,” said another. Are we any clearer today? The proof will be in the (post-Christmas) pudding.
Will the government’s £400m Get Britain Building fund for stalled house building projects avert the looming crisis?
November saw you underwhelmed by the government’s housing strategy. Mark Davies, director of Philip J Davies (Holdings), summed it up best: “Although any government initiative is to be welcomed, unfortunately, in the current economic climate, the amount of funds available is always going to be limited, and therefore the actual amount of housing stock required far exceeds the number that will be built. There needs to be more thought given to regenerate rundown areas because there are thousands of empty properties that could be refurbished.”
Will enterprise zones help the government’s ambition to boost economic growth?
Solicitor Robert Sainsbury let off the steam and voiced the views of many when he said in October: “I would like to move from government-by-sound-bite to mature government by politicians who are guided by those in the civil service who understand what they were advising on.” Others were gloomier: “The best we can hope for is that things don’t get much worse for the next five years and pick up slowly after that.”
Should the government give serious consideration to proposals to build an airport in the Thames Estuary?
It may be a focus of next year’s mayoral election, and so we asked for your views on transport earlier this month. “The Thames Estuary airport dream goes back many years. It would already be in place if it was viable,” said a cynic. And while the question divided respondents, opponents were the most vociferous. “It is a very bad thing. A strong government would get on with building the additional runways at Heathrow and Gatwick.”
Which 2012 Olympic sport is likely to best describe the property industry’s recovery?
With the Olympics lurking in the background all year we rose to the theme this month. Richard Smalley, real estate director of Staples UK & Ireland, managed to add a seasonal link too. “In my opinion, one of the best Christmas presents the government could give the property industry would be a business rating system which is subject to fair and reasonable annual valuations, and which reflected market conditions and included relief for vacant properties.”
26% believe the planning system is irretrievably broken
78% say the reputation of UK plc was damaged by the riots
71% say overseas investors will invest most in the UK next year
60% believe the government has no credible agenda for growth
80% say the government should reintroduce empty rates relief
15% want to see a snowdome replace the Olympic Park’s media centre
62% say John Lewis has the best Christmas marketing strategy
