The Guardian reports that "Capital & Counties (Capco), which is leading the regeneration of the Earls Court exhibition centre in west London, has reported a slowdown in sales of luxury flats on the site. It blamed the weak demand on increasing supply of high-end housing across the capital and a new stamp duty surcharge on second homes, which comes into force in April."
The Telegraph reports that "ministers are facing a legal action to stop them pressing ahead with proposals to allow shops to open for longer on Sundays." The newspaper says that the government has been issued with a "letter before action" from the Keep Sunday Special group, "setting out plans for a future judicial review on the proposals to allow councils to allow shops to open longer on Sundays."
Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins says that "while London rides the Crossrail gravy train, the north is stuck in reverse". He writes: "If HS2 proceeds, it is a commonplace among transport planners that all other big rail projects will be vulnerable. I have not spoken to a single northern politician or business leader who, if offered £50 billion of taxpayers’ money, would regard a faster link to London as the priority. They would spend it on local and regional transport, on trans-Pennine rail and the desperately congested M62 to Yorkshire. They cannot see how merely getting to London half an hour quicker would keep bright young Mancunians in the north."
The Telegraph reports that residential property developer Barratt "has become the latest housebuilder to report increased profits, as government initiatives to help first-time buyers continue to push up demand for new homes." The newspaper says that "pre-tax profits soared 40 per cent in the six months to December, helped by improved mortgage availability and schemes to get first-time buyers onto the property ladder."
The Times (subscription required) reports that the Chinese government has banned "grandoise and weird" western architecture. The newspaper says that the "vague ruling has baffled architects around the world. It calls for an immediate halt to ‘the chaotic propagation of grandiose, West-worshipping and weird architecture’".