I really hope we can find a way to rebuild the trust that seems to have been lost between local authorities, local communities and the development industry, particularly in London.
A lot of good developers try hard to take the community with them but there are others who spend time and energy trying to get out of, or to minimise, their affordable housing and other planning obligations, who ignore the need for good quality and design and who seem never to have heard of ‘placemaking’.
Sadly, I think retail will have an even tougher year and neither central nor local government, nor property owners or retailers, seem to be able to work out how to do anything about it. For town centres in particular, we need radical solutions that involve unpalatable decisions and tough action. Cutting business rates would just be a sticking plaster!
Resolution: To reduce the number of emails in my inbox, remember to turn my phone on, listen to my voicemails and try to be on time for meetings – all of which are faults characteristic of the portfolio second careerist. Who said retirement would be easy?
Liz Peace CBE, adviser on property, politics and the built environment
2019 forecasts: what lies ahead
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