The past year has presented a unique set of challenges, not only on an industry level, but for economies worldwide. The war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, the cost-of-living crisis, alarming levels of inflation and closer to home the political volatility with three Prime Ministers, four Chancellors and I’ve lost count of how many Ministers of State – all on the back of a global pandemic – is a scenario nobody could have foreseen at the start of 2022.
Housing remains one of the most pressing issues our country is facing, development remains key to unlocking our economy, yet the broken and under resourced planning system is facing further challenges as Michael Gove proposes changes to satisfy disgruntled backbench MPs rather than delivering the housing and affordable housing that the people of this country so desperately need.
In the face of adversity, I could not be more proud of what the team at Newton LDP has achieved over the past 12 months, playing an instrumental role in some of the largest & most complex development land deals across central England, making huge strides to improve the performance and resilience of managed property portfolios along with securing an impressive pipeline of strategic development land instructions which will form the backbone of the business for decades to come.
The team has more than doubled this year, with Directors William Young joining in February to help grow the rural consultancy and agency side of the business and George Fox joining in October to bolster our Development & Planning service line. We also welcomed Sam Jones as a Graduate Surveyor who is making great strides towards his APC and provides high quality support to the Directors. This has allowed us to diversify our service offering and expand both our client base and expertise.
We have embedded ourselves in the community, raising more than £23,000 for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) in our first ever fundraising event where we saw Adalta Real take home the Newton LDP Cup 2022. These funds will go towards supporting the farming community which is very near and dear to our hearts.
We were also shortlisted as ‘New Business of the Year’ at the Coventry Live and Warwickshire Live Business Awards 2022 and won ‘Deal of the Year’ at the Business Link Magazine’s East Midlands Brick Awards 2022 for our work on the sale of 460 acres of land in north Leicestershire together with our joint agents.
We head into 2023 with a number of major transactions close to completion which will pave way for the delivery of almost 1,450 new homes along with an impressive pipeline of consented development land to be marketed during 2023 (with planning permission for a further 4,000 new homes).
On the rural side, we have a number of exciting agency instructions to complement our impressive and ever-expanding management portfolio. This means we will be on the hunt for talented rural surveyors to join the team early in 2023 to support and fuel further growth. We have strategic ambitions to grow the rural side of the business further either organically or through strategic acquisitions, where we have a number of irons in the fire.
None of our success or future growth ambitions would be possible without the hard work and determination of the team at Newton LDP, supported by all the incredible people and infrastructure at Stockton House, for which I am very grateful.
On behalf of the Newton LDP, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas and a very happy new year. We look forward to working with many of you in 2023!
- Richard Foxon, Managing Director