Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG, as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
The new National Planning Policy Framework could be published as early as tomorrow, after months of delays. The NPPF, which will be characterised by a pivot to brownfield development, was supposed to have been published in the spring. That was then pushed back to the summer, then October and is now expected this week. Fingers crossed!
Robert Evans will leave Related Argent at the end of this year. The former Argent joint managing partner, who was largely responsible for the King’s Cross regeneration, said it was “the right time to pursue new challenges”.
Meanwhile, forecasts for commercial property show a widening gap between a recovering Europe and a US in “rolling recession”. Cushman & Wakefield tries to see the positive, but things look pretty bleak for US offices next year.
Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council has created a new committee with sweeping powers to sell properties from its £2.4bn portfolio.
Walgreens has revived plans to sell Boots, with options including a new London listing. Plans to sell the 1,900-store retailer, valued at around £7bn, were stalled last year due to the “unexpected and dramatic change” in market conditions.
And a group of gardeners have bested the grand old Duke of Northumberland in the eight-year Battle of the Allotments. A planning inspector has dismissed an appeal by Northumberland Estates over plans to replace 37 plots with 80 flats at Syon Park in Isleworth.
In other news:
Ghelamco signs flex deal at the Arc
Mortgage arrears hit six-year high
Purplebricks to sell houses for free
Historic England shows off new listings
And The FT (£) takes a look at the $4tn of dry powder that private capital investors are sitting on. That’s enough to buy Apple, with enough left over for Tesla, it points out.
