Land Securities, Hammerson, Westfield, Lend Lease and Grosvenor ask Clegg for "help to revive town centres" (Tom Lehrer: "It was at that moment that satire died")

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"The UK's top property companies have called on the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to introduce a tax scheme to start development in deteriorating town centres. 

"Alistair Parker, a partner in development and planning at property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, said:

"In the current climate, the investment value of schemes is often insufficient for the private sector to fund both the costs of the schemes themselves and the associated public infrastructure works, either through investment capital funding, or short-term debt."

"Some retail experts have blamed new developments for blighting existing shopping areas, but property companies argue that older buildings are often not the right size or in the right location for retailers and are impossible to let in their current state."

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Plus: "Osborne signals U-turn on economy with growth plan"

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"George Osborne is drawing up plans for a major growth package to boost the British economy, in what critics will say is a significant shift from his Plan A of austerity and spending cuts.

"One cabinet minister said: "You do what you can to really move along infrastructure investment. There's vast infrastructure needs, transport, energy, broadband, all the rest of it."