It is a bad sign both for the Government and devolution that the Greater Manchester Mayor has been able to run rings round Ministers.
That figure doesn’t include Transport for London’s land – which totals 5,700 acres, equivalent to the size of Camden.
Even in an age of austerity, government has plenty of power and assets, which it could on a small-scale, experimental basis transfer to the control of community groups.
We can’t continue to favour projects such as Crossrail over developing infrastructure in other parts of the country which generate much greater relative returns.