Estates Gazette – politics special 2014

With a general election less than 12 months away and an independence vote for Scotland looming, it’s a politically engaged edition of Estates Gazette this week. From the latest efforts to save the high street, the consequences for property of the independence referendum, interviews with ministers, mayors and MPs, to analysis and investigation of who and how much is being donated to the various parties, this week’s issue has it all. Read on to access the full coverage. • Editor’s comment Politics can be an enabler of course, but right now it feels like a distraction and ultimately a cost to property. • Housing on the hustings Hamptons International takes a look at housing prices, new build figures and much more across various constituencies. The Tories lead the way on new-builds and values, but Labour is closing in. • Party payments Over the first five-and-a-half months of 2014, property has donated almost £500,000 to the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP. In volume, the industry is most supportive of the Tories, but by share of total donations, UKIP does best out of property. Over the past five years, the biggest property donors – those providing £10,000 or more in a single payment – have stumped up £5m, Warwickshire-based IM Properties handing over £1.1m of that. And while property is flashing the cash, its representation in Parliament remains underwhelming. • Property manifestos Estates Gazette’s team of journalists canvasses the main political parties to find out their views on the issues most likely to have the biggest impact on property, from planning reform to the impact of immigration on housing. Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls, Conservative under secretary of state for communities and local government Brandon Lewis, UKIP housing spokesman Andrew Charalambous, Liberal Democrat chair Matthew Taylor, former education secretary David Blunket, Tory vice-chairman Bob Neill and communities secretary Eric Pickles all spoke out. • Click here to listen • Giuliani gems He is arguably the best-known mayor of New York. He is definitely the most jet-set. Estates Gazette managed to grab some time with Rudy Giuliani to talk skylines, airports and the growth of cities as he whizzed through London.   • Should I stay or should I go? In September Scotland votes on whether to split from the UK. Estates Gazette takes a look at the yes and no campaigns, finds out how long it will be business as usual north of the border and how agents are having to stay mum. • Minister’s view EG columnist and cities minister Greg Clark on why local matters when the UK wants growth. • Picking apart policy A no holds barred view of the political agenda from London School of Economics director Tony Travers. The result of the 2015 election may be hard to predict, he says, but our capacity for ill thought-through policy is not. • The housing agenda Commercial property has no substantive issues to air, says Peter Bill, but housing is different and the political ground is already trembling. • Reuniting the high street Could government intervention help regenerate the UK’s high streets by tackling the problem of fragmented ownership? Who exactly can save the high street? • Download the Retail & Leisure and Scotland supplements for free in the App Store Damian.Wild@estatesgazette.com