How do we keep investors interested in UK property? In investment terms the UK is rapidly resembling two economies. London and its communtable surroundings and 'everywhere else'. As an international economic powerhouse, London will not struggle to . Land is in short supply, returns are high, and the demand for property in central London continues to outstrip 'everywhere else' many times over.

HS2 is mooted as a way of addessing this divide but its underlying principle is creating a quicker way of moving others into the London economic region for work, then moving them out again for leisure.

Therefore, the question of how to keep investors interested in UK property is more urgently addressed at 'everywhere else', with aim aim to make the rest of the UK less dependent on London for investment and growth. It is a widely held principle that a diversified economy is more resilient. UK property will become more attractive as a whole if the rest of the country begins to perform as a more independent growth engine.

My idea is for a northern city region; linking the urban centres of Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford with new rail, road and digital infrastructure links and a city-regional authority. Only by linking the northern cities will they be able to compete at anywhere near the level of London in terms of access to talent and investment. The added attraction of the city region is its competitiveness, accesibility to other cities (Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham) and its USP - its urban playground or 'quadrangle' that is the national park at the centre of the region.

This vision will require high levels of initial government investment - he kind of levels that are already being considered for HS2 project. But I believe that this ambitious vision has the potential to completely shake-up the so-called north south divide and give London a genuine national competitor - and in doing so shift the focus onto property throughout the UK.