Politics shaping the property industry

Well I’ve spent a week in Edinburgh and I don’t know how I forgot how beautiful the city is – even the hotels seem to be unique and a world apart from the hotels of some English towns. I spent last night walking around the old town in the evening sun, particularly around the castle and it gave me time to think about what the week had shown me.



Now I’m not one to be too political but a I was reflecting on concerns around the industry champion role being cut as part of cost saving measures. The role of chief construction adviser to me feels a crucial role in helping the industry continue the growth it is starting to see but there is growing fears the role will be scrapped. The position currently held by Peter Hansford is also in question given his contract expiration in November this year.



So why is the role important, well the role is absolutely fundamental, and with previous cuts to the departments there aren’t civil servants in place to drive the construction industry agenda. You should also consider that as Francis Maude has now departed the Cabinet Office there is less obvious support for the Construction Strategy.



The industry needs a focal point to reach across departments, and with the hard and soft skills to generate the energy to keep the construction strategy on track. If you took the role away you’d have to recreate that in another way.

At the same time housing is rising further up the political agenda with mayoral candidates giving it focus in London. Tessa Jowell, a potential candidate is promising to thrust housing back into the spotlight, with the launching of TfL for Housing to build more affordable homes in the capital. Well it’s nice but affordable housing is needed everywhere, not just London but also it does appear that London is seeing a clear rich and poor divide for housing in the capital

The proposal would mean TfL for Housing would act as a developer and build homes with a subsidy or on public land with an expectation of building 2,000 affordable homes a year for the next 20 years. Sounds good doesn’t it but like many things it’s a piece of paper at the moment and more detail would be needed before we could say yes or no on whether it would be successful.

Feel free to contact me 0113 288 2276 or lee.a.wilkinson@uk.pwc.com if you wish to discuss this blog or anything relevant to property and construction.

Enjoy the weekend

Lee

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