Last week, Estates Gazette readers told us of their concerns about government policy. Fears that spending cuts will hurt the property industry in early 2011 are widespread. More surprising was the firm view held by most that those spending cuts have already had a negative impact – a clear example of perception leading reality, although, as ever, it matters every bit as much.
I suggested a number of measures the government could adopt to win over the property sector – further concessions on tax increment financing, decisive regeneration initiatives and clarity on planning. It seems ministers have been listening.
In an exclusive interview with EG this week, Greg Clark, the minister responsible for delivering on David Cameron’s localism ambitions, demonstrates why he is already winning admirers in the property business.
Unlike many politicians who fail to understand how the world of business turns, Clark is convincing when he talks of his commitment to growth. He talks with conviction about the central role played by development in delivering economic and cultural success. And he demonstrates pragmatism and open-mindedness when he stresses that the Tories’ earlier commitment to third-party rights of appeal have been consigned to the bin, marked “discarded policies”.
Marrying a national planning policy framework with localism – while maintaining a presumption in favour of development – remains a challenge.
But he talks intriguingly of the need to ensure “the enthusiastic involvement of the private sector” in ensuring regeneration survives. To float that notion now suggests that work is already under way in delivering on that enthusiasm.
If Clark delivers on CLG initiatives, and persuades his Treasury colleagues to be as decisive in their dealings with the banks, this industry will find that one of its most effective champions is at the heart of Westminster.
Goldman Sachs has been called many things in recent times – “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money” is a personal favourite – but it certainly knows how to pay a bonus.
Even in these austere times the bank revealed a remuneration pot this week of roughly £269,000 per employee.
The property industry has never quite matched the likes of Goldmans when it comes to rewarding staff, but the coming months will see many firms write decent bonus cheques for the first time in recent memory.
Just how big will those cheques be? Well, 2010 numbers are still being crunched, but we can expect many rewards to be big enough to drive scores of career-altering decisions.
Some star performers will be persuaded that their current employers have the ambition to meet their needs. Others, less well remunerated, might ask how valued they really are.
Still others will be wondering whether an employer that’s struggling to make a profit can afford to reward them with a bonus at all – no matter how successful they have been individually. The merry-go-round may just be starting up.
It’s not just through big interviews that Estates Gazette is keeping you up to speed with developments in localism policy.
We’ve been working with UK Regeneration to put together a conference on everything from tax increment financing to local enterprise partnerships and regional spatial strategies. Regeneration – delivering through localism takes place on 24 March at Paddington Central, W2.
For details and to register, visit www.estatesgazetteevents.com/regeneration2011.
