I’m grateful for the London Property Alliance and the Sheffield Property Association for including me in their forum on cities, planning and infrastructure. The London Alliance is the joint arrangement of the Westminister Association, and the City Property Association. The later is a not-for-profit body representing the major owners, occupiers, developers, investors and advisers to real estate in the City of London, with more than 150 member companies and an associated network of nearly 1500 professionals.
In a room of academics, think tanks, rail industry experts, councillors, former ministers and others, we had a wide ranging discussion on the importance of rail connectivity to unlock the potential of the UK as a whole, and how to achieve this. The conversation covered wider issues of house prices, skills, governance and decision making, and the different challenges facing the north of England compared to London. It was an enlightening session and hopefully it will help improve our planning of infrastructure in the future.