Good morning.
The BPF has lashed out at plans to allow deserted shops to be converted into residential without the need for planning approval. The proposals will “destroy town centres”(£), it claims.
Meanwhile, the former Debenhams in Southsea has won planning consent to become 132 flats.
The Times (£) takes a closer look at Debenhams’ dismal death, and asks if it is time to offer free rent(£) to shops to save the high street.
Fast-food giant Burger King(£) is being pursued by one of its landlords over £500k of unpaid rent.
And the sale of Philip Green’s Arcadia empire could leave landlords with nothing and the taxpayer with a £200m pensions bill(£).
Meanwhile the Treasury stands to lose £171m in rates revenue(£) as online-only retailers close hundreds of physical stores.
And talking of tax, The Sunday Times (£) has the full list of the UK’s biggest taxpayers. (Westminster will be thrilled to see he is above Cadogan.)
Pub operator Marston’s has received a takeover approach(£) from an American private equity group, Platinum Equity.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has published a ‘national design guide’, which will set design standards(£) for all new developments.
Watkin Jones has teamed up with Lacuna Developments, Titanic Quarter and Belfast Harbour to develop a £175m, 800-flat waterfront build-to-rent scheme for 3.84 acres of Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
The London Legacy Development Corporation has rejected Southern Housing Group’s plans for the third phase of its £154m Bow River Village resi scheme, citing fears the 435-flat scheme is too tall and not viable.
Labour has demanded that ministers set up a national task force(£) to “get a grip on the deepening cladding crisis”…
… Which risks locking first-time buyers(£) out of the property market altogether in Glasgow and Edinburgh…
… A situation that will be exacerbated by the Scottish government’s decision to scrap its help to buy scheme(£), blaming the Treasury’s demands for budget cuts.
Still, nearly 40,000 property millionaires(£) were created last year and almost all outside London, according to Savills.
Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich(£), meanwhile, has been shown to owns even more property than previously thought.
And the Bank of England(£) will say this week whether it plans to add negative interest rates to its arsenal.
It is a month since Britain officially left the EU. So what has changed, asks the FT (£).
Kaja Kallas(£) has become the first female prime minister of Estonia following the collapse of the government in a property scandal.
And finally, as the festival of Imbolc arrives, Britain is returning to its pagan roots. Apparently long barrows are the latest thing(£), with a dozen of the communal burial chambers planned across the length and breadth of the British Isles. The last time they were built on any great scale was a little under 5000 years ago. One even includes that most ancient and subversive of additions – an outdoor performance space. These too are having something of a renaissance. A new study suggests scores of outdoor theatres(£) are being built or planned in England’s sacred groves. Perhaps this is simply because Covid restrictions will make indoor performances a logistical nightmare. Or is that burning wicker I can smell?
