propertytalk Live!

More students will be able to take up careers in town planning and help bridge the skills gap after Planning Minister John Healey confirmed an additional £1.8m to fund student bursaries for postgraduate training at 16 Universities.

The Government scheme began in 2004, with over 600 students completing their post-graduate planning qualification, and this year (2010/11) there is funding that will provide the full tuition fees for over 180 planning students as well as help them with the cost of living.

An insect is to be released in the UK to stop the spread of the non-native invasive plant Japanese Knotweed which can destroy property and costs the economy more than £150million a year to control and clear.

Japanese Knotweed is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. It grows vigorously at a rate of up to a metre a month, including through concrete and drains, causing damage to roads and buildings and costing millions of pounds to remove each year.

A new approach to managing the UK’s land will be vital to meet the challenges of the 21st century, according to the latest report from Foresight, the Government’s futures think tank.

"Land Use Futures" looks at how landscapes and land use could change in the UK over the next 50 years. It concludes that the present way the land system is managed in the UK will need to change. There are already pressures on land, but these will intensify in parts of the country, such as in the South East of England. Shortages could result in critical public goods – such as water supply, biodiversity, carbon sinks and urban green space – unless carefully managed.

Retired people form the country’s fastest growing demographic group, according to Knight Frank’s "Retirement Housing Report" 2010.

Liam Bailey, head of residential research, Knight Frank, said: "An explosion of grey hair has significant implications for the future of retirement housing and the wider residential market. Older households will represent half of all household growth between now and 2026 and it is important that the development, construction and care industries recognise this opportunity.

The National Housing Federation has welcomed many aspects of the Conservative Party's planning green paper, but warned that the current proposals posed too great a risk to the delivery of affordable housing.

The Federation said it backed the proposed shift in the planning system towards a presumption in favour of sustainable development and the greater scope for local communities to shape development in their area.

NIMBYs are using a Victorian "village green" law to block any attempts to build new homes – a tactic that is costing taxpayers millions of pounds in red tape and delaying for several years new affordable housing schemes.

Individuals fiercely opposed to any new building in their rural community have frustrated not-for-profit housing charities/builders across the country by claiming land due to be developed on should be reclassified as a village green and protected from development.

But far from being at the heart of community life, the "village green" is often no more than an isolated agricultural field, which has rarely attracted a single dog walker, according to the National Housing Federation.

The UK construction industry continued to decline during the final quarter of 2009 despite the wider economy returning to growth, according to the latest Construction Trade Survey published yesterday.

Furthermore, with rising material costs and increasing fuel and energy prices, coupled with decreasing orders and enquiries, the environment for construction throughout 2010 is likely to deteriorate even further, delaying any recovery in the sector for at least another twelve months.

Tight supply and new demand from builders is underpinning the growth of development land values, according to the latest  Knight Frank Residential Development Land Index.

* UK residential development land values saw their third quarterly rise in a row in Q4 2009;
* Urban land values rose 2.1% in Q4 2009, and are now 6.1% higher than the low point they reached in Q1 2009;
* Greenfield land values rose 4.0% in Q4 2009, and are now 8.0% higher than the low point they reached in Q1 2009;
* Despite strong recent growth, urban land values are still 51% below the peak levels (reached in Q4 2007) and Greenfield values are 39% below their peak;
* The market revival is being led by London and in particular by "super-prime London" (Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster for example), where land values rose 7% in Q4 2009.

Over the past ten years the Knight Frank Farmland Index recorded a 164% increase in English farmland values from £3278/acre to £5123/acre.

This is especially impressive as the growth for prime residential property in Central London was a "mere" 113%, while the FTSE 100 share index ended the decade 22% down.

Land Securities has announced the start of a £655million West End development programme with construction contracts agreed for three schemes, all due to complete by the Summer 2013.

Park House, the largest development on Oxford Street for 40 years, along with Wellington House and Selborne House, two schemes in Victoria, will start on site this year with completions scheduled for November 2012, July 2012 and 2013 respectively.