Brendan Walsh heads up the East Midlands real estate team at Shakespeare Martineau:
"The East Midlands has been one of the 海角视频’s fastest growing regions over the past three decades due to its light manufacturing and growing service sector.
Whilst the region boasts some significant employers such as Next, Boots, Bombardier, Rolls-Royce to name but a few, its prosperity lies in its economic diversity.
Brexit is undoubtedly causing a drag on investment as a recent report by PWC stated.
The report anticipates growth in the East Midlands will slow to 1.1 per cent in 2019 picking up to 1.7 per cent in 2020 which accords with their view on the national average.
However, the region has shown strong house price growth and indeed is the third strongest in the 海角视频 with 5.2 per cent while employment growth has slowed to 0.1 per cent against the 海角视频 average of 0.7 per cent.
If the momentum of the last three years is to be maintained and the slowing in growth identified in the PWC report reversed, improved transport links will be a key factor.
Treasury statistics published in July 2018 show that the East Midlands continues to miss out on public investment with the lowest level of expenditure on transport nationally per head including the lowest level of rail investment.
Are things about to change with the proposed HS2 link to Toton, in Notts?
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Whilst the Government has given the go ahead to the London to Birmingham line, the northern link to Manchester and Leeds, via Toton – which has an anticipated budget of £29.4 billion – has been delayed until 2020.
The development of Toton Sidings is, in a rare show of unity, supported by all three principal councils in the region, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire who have agreed a joint development plan.
They see it as an essential opportunity to “re-balance the economy” away from London with up to 14 high speed trains an hour and the potential creation of more than 5,000 homes and 50,000 jobs.
Whilst the journey time to London would be reduced to 52 minutes and 20 minutes to Birmingham, the success of Toton, if it moves forward, will also be dependant upon the creation of links from Derby and Nottingham by tram, road or bus.
Whilst the “hub” should stimulate commercial development, without passenger connections, there is a fear that without effective links it could become a commuter satellite to London.
Unfortunately, past experience in rail infrastructure does not bode well.
For more years than I care to remember, we have been waiting for the Government to confirm the electrification of the Midland Mainline route to Leicester.
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This has now been reduced to electrification to Market Harborough which is due to be completed in 2023.
The recent appointment of Abellio as the new East Midlands franchise operator from August 2019 also promises further commitment with more peak time seats, reduced journey times and more than £17 million in station improvements.
However, with the Crossrail budget increasing from £14.8 billion to £17.6 billion and two years of delay, the fear must remain that if the first committed extension to the HS2 between London and Birmingham also falls foul of cost and programme overruns, following which the easy option for the Government may be to further delay the proposed northern link through Toton.
Further, since opening in 2019, East Midlands Parkway has not been a resounding success.
It is currently served by two northbound services per hour which call within 7 minutes of each other and two southbound services which fall within 8 minutes of each other, and it has limited access to East Midlands Airport.
The airport is now the largest freight airport in the 海角视频 after Heathrow, handling more than £10 billion worth of goods a year around which Sergo have developed more than 6,000,000 sq ft of space with 11 giant warehouses occupied by the likes of Nestle and Amazon with employment of approximately 10,000.
Considering all that, the level of current rail interconnection is a cause for concern.
This should improve when the strategic rail freight interchange, capable of handling up to 16 freight trains a day is finally developed, albeit that it will not assist employees and visitors.
Whilst we wait for HS2 however, I fear that even with the Market Harborough electrification and the Abellio franchise appointment, the region will continue to lag behind the national average in rail and transport investment."