The 800m station radius policy is clever but I wonder if it inadvertently creates value capture problems at scale. If every well-connected station suddenly becomes a high-density development zone, won't land speculators front-run this and capture most of the uplift before councils can negotiate Section 106 deals? The New Zealand comparison is useful, but Auckland's rail network is way less extensive than the UKs, so the land value dynamics might play out diferently. Also worth noting that requiring 40-50 dph minimums is solid in theory but enforcement will be tricky when developers lobby for loopholes.
Fantastic to hear about this. Having watched a UK family member go through a planning debacle from afar has made me wonder if something like what has happened in my home country of NZ would be coming - it requires a national response to break the council accumulated bureaucratic cruft. Unfortunately, where we’ve fallen down in NZ is not have correspondent infrastructure funding - so even with the zoning/regulatory barriers partly taken care of, there isnt money to pay for the roads/water etc and it still strongly disincentivises councils to act. Curious what that will look like in the UK.
The 800m station radius policy is clever but I wonder if it inadvertently creates value capture problems at scale. If every well-connected station suddenly becomes a high-density development zone, won't land speculators front-run this and capture most of the uplift before councils can negotiate Section 106 deals? The New Zealand comparison is useful, but Auckland's rail network is way less extensive than the UKs, so the land value dynamics might play out diferently. Also worth noting that requiring 40-50 dph minimums is solid in theory but enforcement will be tricky when developers lobby for loopholes.
And more broadly, thank you for the excellent write up! Have subbed.
Fantastic to hear about this. Having watched a UK family member go through a planning debacle from afar has made me wonder if something like what has happened in my home country of NZ would be coming - it requires a national response to break the council accumulated bureaucratic cruft. Unfortunately, where we’ve fallen down in NZ is not have correspondent infrastructure funding - so even with the zoning/regulatory barriers partly taken care of, there isnt money to pay for the roads/water etc and it still strongly disincentivises councils to act. Curious what that will look like in the UK.