East Anglian licensees set to benefit from huge investment

East Anglia has benefited from substantial investment during the past five years, with the region’s transport links receiving a significant investment boost.

The main railway line from London to Norwich is set to benefit from a major package of upgrades worth £170m next year, providing a better, more reliable railway for passengers. The £105m improvement to more than nine miles of the A11 has also been completed.

Further road projects are planned, including the Cambridge to Huntingdon section of the A14. All these factors have made the famously isolated region more accessible and helped the local economy to blossom.

Industry in the area is also continuing to evolve, with East Anglia becoming a top location for offshore wind. The new Scottish Power wind farm will see 100 wind turbines powering 500,000 homes built off the coast of East Anglia, with the project set to bring more than £2bn of investment to the area.

More than 3,000 new jobs are set to be created in beneficiary towns Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, which is excellent news for licensees or future licensees looking to invest in the region.

Some 92% of delegates at a recent seminar expected commercial property values in East Anglia to rise in the next 12 months, up from 79% at the same stage last year.

Overall, the gradual improvements in the national economy are filtering down to the region and while some towns have not yet seen an upturn, we are confident these will filter through in time.

Everard Cole has seen the level of purchaser enquiries from both independent and multiple operators rise this year, as well as emerging companies as funding starts to flow back to the sector.

We expect overall values to continue to increase throughout the year for both freehold and leasehold property within the region.

As the region’s only independent licensed property specialist, we are confident that the overall forecast will continue to improve, whatever direction the new government moves in.

Chris Rogers is associate at Everard Cole​