Jones Lang LaSalle questions whether Government's proposed infrastructure projects will make a real impact26th June 2013

Commenting on the strong emphasis placed on infrastructure in today’s spending review, Jon Neale, Head of Research UK at Jones Lang LaSalle said:

“A historic lack of infrastructure investment has long been recognised as one of the UK’s weaknesses. The World Economic Forum recently rated the UK as the 8th most competitive economy in the world – but ranked its infrastructure in a lowly 24th place."

"It is clear that the current government is keen to rectify this, but it is questionable whether the projects identified are really sufficient to make a real impact.. The Government needs to move quickly to press ahead with Crossrail 2 and should also examine whether further public transport investment is needed both the capital and the main regional cities, which remain underserved compared to their European counterparts.”

Adam Challis, Head of Residential Research at Jones Lang LaSalle had this to say about the announcement of a £3 billion capital investment into affordable housing in 2015/16:

"Support for affordable housing supply just makes sense because it helps disadvantaged families while also creating jobs. The need has continued to grow at a faster rate than supply and as a society we can ill-afford to lose sight of the importance of a long-term affordable housing supply strategy, which is not subject to market or political short-termism."