Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of adopting Hong Kong MTR Corporation’s Rail plus Property (R+P) model for incentivising housing development near or over railway lines; and if he will make a statement.

We are committed to the role of private sector in UK rail, increasing private investment, and learning lessons from international models. Our railways can be a catalyst for regeneration and development. Currently for station upgrades, we consider a range of possible models and how these might be combined with development opportunities around the station. In future, Great British Railways will work proactively with partners to support better development near stations and share best practice, using the essential understanding of how to develop sites alongside operational railways that it will take on from Network Rail.