Business News Round Up (03/04/2023)
Scotland’s new permitted development rights will facilitate town centre regeneration, says Colliers
Changes to permitted development rights (PDRs) in Scotland that come into effect today could revitalise Scottish town centres, says commercial real estate firm Colliers. The changes which will allow shops (subject to restrictions) to be converted to office accommodation, restaurants, or cafes without the requirement for planning permission are a major breakthrough for town centres that have been struggling to regenerate due to planning constraints. The amends to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development and Use Classes) Scotland Order also updates polices around outdoor furniture for cafes and restaurants, the installation of electric vehicle charging points and allows for further development at Scottish Ports. Holly Gillingham from Colliers’ Planning team said: “In this post-pandemic world, these changes to legislation are an excellent step towards relaxing planning policy in Scotland and help revitalise town centres which need to change and modernise as the way that we all live, and work has changed. “These new PDRs will mean that some units that have previously been occupied as shops could change to professional services, office accommodation, new restaurants, or cafes. While there are still some restrictions, this frees up local authorities to focus on larger scale planning applications and provides businesses and landlords with greater flexibility.”
Greater Manchester FinTech sector set to be worth £1 billion in 2023
A new report from Whitecap Consulting shows that the FinTech sector in Greater Manchester is the largest outside London, employs 10,000 people, and is set to contribute more than £1 billion to the regional economy this year. Launched today at a FinTech North event hosted by Bruntwood SciTech in Manchester, the report is the result of a collaborative research project over recent months, conducted with support from organisations including Brentwood SciTech, GFT, MIDAS, Slalom, Vialto Partners, University of Manchester, Rise, created by Barclays, pro-manchester, and FinTech North.
With growth of 67% over the last 3 years, the report finds Greater Manchester to be an international hub and the largest regional ecosystem outside London. The sector is expected to contribute £1 billion to the local economy in 2023, with an estimated 10,000 people working in FinTech roles, across approximately 240 firms operating in the FinTech sector in financial services, technology and FinTech firms. Within this, Greater Manchester is now home to approximately 150 FinTech firms, the vast majority of which are startups and scaleups, a segment which has trebled in number over the last 3 years. The region has core strengths in Payments, Lending, WealthTech and Accounting. Highlighting the increasing level of national connectivity in the FinTech sector, the report includes a foreword from Charlotte Crosswell, the inaugural Chair of CFIT, while Nicholas Lyons, the 694th Lord Mayor of the City of London, was guest speaker at a launch event at Bruntwood SciTech’s 1 Circle Square on the morning of 31st March.
Lower oil and gas prices set to hit Scotland’s underlying public finances
Scotland’s underlying fiscal position is set to improve by much less than expected last year, as oil and gas prices fall back. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its latest forecasts for the economy and public finances alongside the Budget on 15 March. These showed an improvement in the underlying public finance outlook for the UK as a whole, although the Chancellor decided to give away rather than bank most of the spoils. Other forecasters have also revised up their growth forecasts in recent months, although most – including most notably the Bank of England – are not as optimistic about the UK’s growth prospects as the OBR. Part of the upwards revision to growth prospects is due to the recent fall in oil prices and especially gas prices from their 2022 peaks. This fall is expected to be sustained over the next few years, although gas prices are expected to remain substantially above their pre-Ukraine-conflict levels. This means that while overall tax revenues over the next few years have been revised up, oil and gas revenues are now expected to increase by much less than in the OBR’s November 2022 forecast. Then, the combination of higher prices and the introduction of higher tax rates (the ‘energy profits levy’) was forecast to lead to oil and gas revenues of £15 billion in 2022–23, rising to almost £21 billion in 2023–24. Now the forecast is for revenues of closer to £11 billion and £10 billion in each of these years. This is still a massive increase on levels just a few years ago (revenues amounted to less than £1 billion in each of 2019–20 and 2020–21) but is a significant downgrade, nonetheless.
https://ifs.org.uk/articles/lower-oil-and-gas-prices-set-hit-scotlands-underlying-public-finances
Plans in for second phase of £20m Sci-Tech Daresbury scheme
Plans for the second phase of Violet – a £20m speculative development at the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus – have been submitted, with the proposals expected to help create or support 300 jobs.If backed, the project is set to bring forward a further 80,000 sq ft gross of innovation real estate to the Liverpool City Region – including laboratory space – in a development on vacant land at the north end of the campus in Halton. The application is based around two three-storey buildings – to be known as V4 and V5 – following on from the delivery of Violet phase one. Having completed in February 2022, the first phase comprised a £17.8m scheme which is 85 per cent occupied and features 43,000 sq ft of grade A office and innovation space across three buildings. V1 comprises 19,000 sq ft, while V2 and V3 provide 12,000 sq ft each. Violet is considered “central to Sci-Tech Daresbury’s strategy of expanding the range of high-quality facilities” and will help joint venture partners Langtree, Halton Borough Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) deliver on the promise to “support job creation and drive inward investment in the region”. The first new building in the proposed scheme, V4, measures about 23,000 sq ft and will expand the availability of Sci-Tech Daresbury’s grade A office accommodation with larger floor plates of up to 6,000 sq ft. It has been conceived with companies in sectors such as advanced engineering, healthcare, digital technology and sustainability in mind.