Crossrail 2, the proposed rail route linking south west and north East London from Surrey to Hertfordshire, will help boost the housing crisis in and around London, according to home building industry leaders.
The major infrastructure project will help deliver 200,000 new homes by increasing connectivity for underdeveloped areas, particularly in London, and transform transport capacity, according to more than 60 professionals in the property and home building industry.
In a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond they are urging the British Government to give the project its bull backing and say they are ready to seize the opportunity to use the development potential.
The 66 signatories include Taylor Wimpey, British Land, Melanie Leech of the British Property Federation and all of the g15, London’s largest housing associations, all backing the potential to build good quality homes and commercial space.
The industry leaders say the new railway would transform transport capacity and connectivity for underdeveloped areas of the capital, such as the Upper Lea Valley and this will give house builders the certainty they need to accelerate the development of up to 200,000 new homes urgently needed to help address the housing shortage across London and the South East.
They believe that the benefits will be felt right across the South East with 30% of the new homes delivered outside London, supporting regional growth corridors between Cambridge and Stansted, and South West towards Portsmouth.
The signatories point out that Angel Road station in the Upper Lea Valley, for example, is currently London’s least used station, and offers no services at all into Liverpool Street between 10am and 3.30pm. Crossrail 2 would give the area up to 12 trains per hour, transforming its viability for development.
The letter comes on the same day that the Westminster Property Association (WPA) called on the Government to back Crossrail 2 with the publication of a report setting out how private sector investment could be maximised to help recoup the project’s costs.