Landlord Voice Magazine July 2015 - Doncaster | Page 2

CONTENTS tsm an 10 18 on de in D caster Ma 2 | LandlordVoice | July 2015 Doncaster • Doncaster’s logistics revival - a closer look at the town’s developments. Page 10. • Doncaster’s property market in numbers. Page 16 • Carl Agar - where to invest in Doncaster. Page 18 • Derek Coles, RDG CEO on investment in Doncaster. Page 20 • Doncaster through the years. Page 22 • Helen Elworthy on Doncaster - a town with everything going for it. Page 24 • Trivia Time - test your Doncaster knowledge. Page 27 co D Landlord Voice Editor Flyi ng S Yorkshire Wild life Par k- Ben McVay 4 • Are right-to-rent checks putting Landlords at risk? Page 4 • Buy-to-let boom could damage housing market. Page 5 • National Landlords Survey 2015 results. Page 6 caster Don O ur mission here at Landlord Voice is to seek out useful and informative content for our readers and each edition is framed around the local economy and rental market of a different city or town. And while some places do stand out when their economies are thriving, it’s rare to stumble across a town with so much investment and development in the pipeline that it is on the brink of a full-blown transformation. Once one of the biggest coal-producing areas in the country, with a rich rail and logistics heritage thanks to its geographical location, Doncaster has never really achieved the popularity as an area it deserves. But the fact is, this vast metropolitan borough with a population of more than 302,000 is one of the most affordable places to live in the country and is quite spoilt when it comes to transport links – whether to Sheffield, Leeds and York via its nearby motorway network or London via the East Coast Mainline. Doncaster is set for a rail and logistics revival and such is the scale and ambition of the plans for its development that we have set aside six pages for their coverage in this edition. Its vast rail infrastructure has secured it a stake in the servicing and development of two of the industry’s biggest projects – the replacement of the aging InterCity 125 with Hitachi’s electro-diesel Class 800 and the HS2 high-speed rail link between London and the north. And alongside these exciting rail projects a new road linking Doncaster’s airport to the motorway network has made it the location of choice for a £400m inland port providing freight logistics via sea, air and rail. And as if that was not enough there are plans for a new Enterprise Zone and a tournamentquality golf course which could play host to the PGA Tour. In the opinion section we hear from several local estate agents keen to have their say on Doncaster’s new developments and Derek Coles, CEO of Ryan Direct Group – a Doncasterbased insurance services company - gives his views on the town’s future. Our tips section features an article about renting out properties as holiday homes, while we take a closer look at Doncaster’s housing market in the In Numbers section and our regular historical tour of the town in Through the Years. And if you have time, why not take five minutes to try our Doncaster trivia quiz. Lastly, at Landlord Voice we are always keen to hear from landlords or others interested in buyto-let for interviews, columns and general opinion, so please get in touch by emailing [email protected]. Ch ch ur LANDLORDVOICE Landlord News St Ge org es r ste ca on Conisborough Castle - Doncaster July 2015 | LandlordVoice | 3