Crossrail

A massive improvement to rail travel to London! A hugely positive impact on business within the commuter belt! A super quick commute! A much smoother ride! Worth the expense! Or, just a hugely expensive project that will make no real difference to commuters or to business in the UK?! Is it a total waste of time and money or, a revolution in business and travel that will turn our little town of Maidenhead into a town that has finally reached its potential and something that we as workers and residents can be truly proud?

Surely these questions must have been on the minds of Maidenhead residents, property owners and business owners over recent years. Over the past couple of years and certainly in recent months as the prospect of Crossrail looms, I have been wondering about the changes that it will make to our town and the effect it will have on local business and to us as residents generally. I was extremely pleased to have recently had the privilege of attending an event at the Holiday Inn in Maidenhead arranged by the Maidenhead & District Chamber of Commerce. Terry Morgan CBE was presenting and explained how he had been involved with Crossrail for six years. The project has cost £15 billion which was their initial budget and apparently to the great pride of the people involved in the project they have stayed within their budget and timescales. They are, in the words of Terry Morgan CBE, breaking the reputation of businesses that are always running late and over budget. Crossrail is due to open in 2018 and will be “fully operational” according to the information available in 2019.

  We need to encourage the regeneration, think positively and speak positively about the impact that this project will have.

Ask yourselves these questions. Would you rather travel in a cool air conditioned carriage or a hot and stuffy one? Would you rather travel to Canary Wharf in sixty nine minutes or fifty five minutes? To Liverpool Street in sixty three minutes or forty eight minutes? To Heathrow on that essential business trip or all important holiday away in forty six minutes or twenty six minutes? Would you rather wait for the next train for fifteen minutes or two to three minutes? The saying “time is money” has always been a lawyer’s mantra but surely in this social and economic climate, this is true for all of us and everyone agrees.

As far as I understand, we are to expect a well run and efficient service and taking everything into consideration, I find it very hard to criticise the project. I encourage everyone to be positive about the improvement to Maidenhead. If everyone works together as a town and encourages the Local Authority to make further positive changes we could help improve the town and enhance the reputation of the already thriving business centre in Maidenhead and truly compete with other booming commercial areas like Reading and London.

The author of this article is Louise Lyddiatt who is the Head of our Residential Property department. Louise also deals with commercial property transactions for our clients. If you are looking to buy or sell a residential property in Maidenhead or to take a lease of commercial premises in the town, please contact Louise on 01628 631051 or by email to louise.lyddiatt@colemans.huntersserver.co.uk

Categorised in: Commercial Property, Latest news, Residential Property, Town and Country Planning

This post was written by Colemans Solicitors LLP