Getting to the hub
Transport has a huge part to play in driving economic, environmental and social benefits, explains RICS Policy Project Manager Tom Pienaar
The role of hubs (or transport interchanges) in delivering economic, environmental and social benefits for global infrastructure development cannot be underestimated, and RICS will continue its policy work to realise their potential.
The UK Government’s launch of its plans in March 2010 for the first stage of the high-speed rail line from London to Birmingham, the north of England and onwards to Scotland is not a scheme in isolation.
It comes in the context of hundreds of billions of pounds of current and planned expenditure on high-speed rail projects by national governments worldwide. In China alone around 30,000km of new track is planned by the middle of the decade at an estimated cost of circa £380bn.
This widespread delivery of new high-speed rail represents dramatic changes to the economic geography of regions, countries and continents, and perhaps the most important decision to be taken in the planning of this infrastructure is where to locate the hubs which can deliver all these benefits.
RICS has a number of policy projects which contribute to leading thinking on how these major infrastructure projects can realise economic, environmental and social sustainability targets.
Economic – Apart from the obvious economic boost quicker transport connections can offer regional centres, the land immediately surrounding newly developed hubs represents an ideal location for the development of leisure, office, public buildings and other public transport facilities.
When the right mechanisms are available, and by adopting a strategic approach to land use planning, the public sector should be able to capture this value uplift in land provided by the new transport hub and recoup the costs of infrastructure provision.
Environmental – Multimodal interchanges offer the all-important convenience factor, allowing the user to change from one transport type to another. This helps to link more locations by public transport and can provide a strong incentive for many to choose public transport over road travel, ultimately easing congestion and reducing carbon footprints.
Social – Delivering high-speed rail from one region of a country to another (or across different countries), thereby reducing travel time to economic markets, can provide major boosts to local, regional and national economies, enabling fringe areas to become viable places to do business.
These reduced times (for example, the first stage of the UK’s ‘High-Speed Rail 2’ project offers a reduction of 30 minutes on train journeys from London to Birmingham) can persuade businesses to relocate, regenerating and providing increased employment opportunities for traditionally less affluent areas.
Policy development
RICS has been engaging with policy makers for a number of years on mechanisms to realise the benefits that hubs can offer.
– In cooperation with the UK Government, RICS commissioned research to examine the role that Transport Development Areas can play in delivering well planned transport interchanges surrounded by good quality developments.
Transport Development Areas – ‘well designed, higher density development around good public transport nodes in towns and cities’ – were subsequently referenced in the UK’s ‘Planning Policy Guidance 13: Transport’ as one mechanism that can help integrate transport and development objectives.
– RICS’ Vision for Cities Task Group recently launched a discussion paper in March 2010 at MIPIM – the international real estate conference in France. The paper, Planning and delivering urban infrastructure to support sustainable growth, outlined a number of key global drivers for urban development, as well as specific challenges which the RICS Vision for Cities programme will seek to address over the next 18 months.
One of the key issues for this programme, and in the context of the current economic climate, is how to decide on the best locations to invest public money to achieve maximum environmental, economic and social benefits. Further events, debates, reports and research are planned throughout 2010/2011.
– Capturing value uplift is an important concept to address in the existing economic climate, enabling governments to maximise return on investment in infrastructure. RICS is commissioning research to examine the UK’s existing land and property tax regime.
This will propose appropriate modifications to the existing land and property tax system which could more effectively deliver benefits in line with the UK’s public priorities. Tax mechanisms to capture this value uplift may be discussed further in the context of this research.
– The European Commission published its Urban Mobility Action Plan in September 2009 and in the coming years will launch 20 specific actions which aim to make urban transport greener and optimise urban mobility. RICS will continue to engage with the European Union to ensure it is understood that sustainable transport and city planning are two sides of the same coin.
– In addition to this policy work on topics directly relevant to high-speed rail hubs, RICS will continue to undertake other related policy development work, from commissioning research on the future of PFIs/PPPs to an analysis of the comparable costs of delivering infrastructure in the UK compared to other countries.
RICS will also continue to offer its expertise in compulsory purchase and planning and development to governments throughout the planning and delivery of any high-speed rail projects.
To find out more about RICS’ Vision for Cities programme or to get involved in ongoing RICS policy development, email the author at policy@rics.org or visit www.rics.org/visionforcities
