BUDGET 2015: The government plans to establish a “dedicated body to focus on pursuing opportunities to realise value from public land and property assets in the rail network”.
Chancellor George Osborne’s summer Budget sets out a series of measures to transform Network Rail as it attempts to keep pace with the huge increase in passenger numbers and the pressures they place on the rail network.
The new body will be charged with maximising “the benefit to local communities and reduc[ing] the burden of public debt” by selling off land currently owned by the taxpayer.
The Budget said it hoped to build on the successes of King’s Cross Central, the 67-acre scheme developed by Argent and owned jointly by taxpayer-funded London & Continental Railways, and of the International Quarter at Stratford.
The government has also enlisted High Speed 1 chief executive Nicola Shaw to advise on the long-term future shape and financing of Network Rail, working with new chief executive Sir Peter Hendy, who has been brought in from Transport for London.
The review will be concluded before the Budget next year.
