Crossrail Facts:-
- It is Europe’s largest infrastructure project
- 42km of tunnelling is being dug beneath London
- 10 new stations are being built
- Over 62m working hours have been completed so far
- it is estimated to generate at least £42 billion for the UK economy and support 55,000 jobs
- The full service will be running by 2019 and a phased opening from 2017
- It will bring 1.5m people within a 45-minute commute of London
House prices are expected to increase by 45% over the next 5 years
Will this make employment costs increase as living expenses increase?
Perhaps the arrival of CrossRail is a double edged sword?
Will Crossrail trains be more expensive than the normal services?
There are many questions !
These figures come as homeless charity Shelter revealed a young couple with a child would have to save for more than 16 years to afford a 20% deposit on a Slough home.
Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said the shortage of affordable homes has pushed up prices – meaning for millions of youngsters owning a home is ‘a fantasy’.
The council is also housing young families on benefits in cheaper areas as far as 100 miles away because they cannot afford spiralling rent costs. The research suggests rent prices in Slough will rise by up to 34%.
Cllr James Swindlehurst, deputy council leader, said the authority is working to tackle supply, with 200 new council homes set to be built this year and 12,000 as part of the Heart of Slough regeneration. I question how many of these are new as opposed to replacements and will the timings be of any use when house prices and rent are already going up in advance of the Crossrail opening.
So with Crossrail already having an impact on the Slough and local economy it will only be a matter of time before the issues start to surface and begin to be seen. Currently it is difficult to find any negative viewpoints on Crossrail, but I suspect this will change as it moves closer to the opening phase.
For local businesses I would expect the impact to be already becoming apparent but I am investigating this in more details and will report back in due course.