The London housing market has entered its busiest first quarter in a decade as home-movers rush to complete before the end of March stamp duty holiday deadline, despite being plunged into lockdown 3. The market is fully open, in line with Government guidance, with buyers still able to view property and move home and conveyancing and surveys allowed. Bank of England mortgage
Illustration: Matt Kenyon/The Guardian
In the tangle of west Londonâs railway junctions â out Willesden way, where trains creak around tight curves, attempting to circumvent the London termini â I recently came across lines of new carriages waiting for work. I think it was at that famous railway placename Old Oak Common, where the smoke from the locomotive sheds once lay black across the sky.
Several long sidings were filled with them: new, in a livery of shining white, with the London Transport roundel emblazoned on their sides â in purple and crossed with the words ELIZABETH LINE. The sight gave me a stab of longing for a time of greater certainty, pre-Brexit and pre-Covid, when the most problematic aspect of Londonâs future, the levels of inequality among the population apart, was its apparently unstoppable growth.
HS2 minister: Covid crisis has strengthened case for high speed rail link
Construction work on the HS2 rail link began in September but has attracted the chagrin of environmental campaigners. (Getty Images)
The case for the controversial HS2 rail link has been bolstered by the coronavirus pandemic, the minister responsible for the project has told lawmakers.
Speaking to the Transport Select Committee, Andrew Stephenson hit back at growing concerns that the current crisis has made the high speed line unnecessary.
“You can argue that Covid has affected the business case [for HS2]”, he said. “But it’s worth thinking about the whole picture.
Images released of HS2 s Old Oak Common hub
An aerial view of the Old Oak Common hub and a glimpse of the Chilterns tunnel entrance are among images released by the builders of HS2. Progress on the high-speed London to Birmingham link, which cuts through part of West London before heading north under the Chilterns, is being documented to mark the turn of the year. Planning approval was given this year to the new inter-change at Old Oak Common, which will link with the new Elizabethan Line across London. The pictures include a view of the huge South Portal site near the M25, from where tunnel boring machines will dig north under the Chilterns.