It’s no wonder investment is dwindling!
What a great city and what a great region!
Plymouth sits on the banks of the mighty River Tamar and benefits from having one of the best natural harbours in the world.
Within half an hour of leaving the city centre we can either be out on the sea or high up on the expanses of Dartmoor.
Are there any other cities in the British Isles that can boast those natural attributes?
We are told the Westcountry’s economy has continued to expand despite the growing economic problems affecting global markets, and it is clear that business activity in the South West is stronger than the UK average.
We are also told that despite the general drop in house prices the South West should enjoy little or no drop overall.
So why has inward investment declined so dramatically over the last 12 months?
Despite Plymouth’s fantastic natural attributes and the South West’s more stable economic environment, we still need to ensure that our economic competitiveness is as good, if not better, than other cities’ if we want national developers to invest in Plymouth.
However Plymouth is placing more onerous demands on inward investors or developers looking to invest in the city.
For example, Plymouth requires 30% affordable housing within its city centre while some other cities do not – and they enjoy higher end values but similar construction costs.
Developers should be ready to contribute to the cost of the public infrastructure that their developments demand and recognise the need to provide affordable housing, but this needs to be balanced with being competitive because those contributions will not arise if development goes to other cities.
Secondly, Plymouth City Council, as freeholder of many of the city centre sites, benefits from a restrictive covenant that requires the payment (in some cases) of significant sums of money to get it lifted.
Plymouth has seen more regeneration in the last five years than anything since the rebuilding after the Second World War.
But if that is to continue we have to remain competitive.
There are currently no commercial properties listed.
