Last week was MIPIM, the four-day international property conference in Cannes where governments and architects speed-date developers and financiers, and I try to distinguish between 20,000 men in blue suits.
Inevitably the first year back since the pandemic was different to usual, but what was surprising to many regular attendees was the relatively low-key London presence, something generally attributed to the Government’s levelling up agenda.
Even as a born-and-bred Londoner working for a London newspaper I can acknowledge that the UK is too heavily centralised in the capital.
Encouraging jobs, infrastructure and investment in other regions is likely to have a positive impact for Londoners too, by reducing pressure on housing and services.
But many fear levelling up will mean levelling down for London in a bid to score political points.
It may have the highest rates of wealth in the country, but the capital also has the highest rates of poverty, exacerbated by the cost of housing.
Figures show the percentage of people deemed to be living in poverty is roughly equal in London and the rest of England before housing costs are factored in. When those are added, the number jumps 12 per cent in London and four per cent elsewhere.
There are many ways the regions and the capital can join forces to tackle the national housing crisis through improvements to all tenures, from social housing to private rental and new building.
Well-planned national policy that allows for local changes of emphasis could benefit London as much as Leeds or Launceston.
What we cannot allow is for a global city of 10 million people to languish while pretending it’s for the benefit of the rest.
