RICS president Robert Peto has today warned of the threat of a second recession led by cuts to public spending.

Speaking today at the Association of Chief Estates Surveyors autumn conference in Newquay, Peto said that property professionals would “find out the future of our lives” at the government’s spending review on 20 October. Peto is vice-chairman of capital markets at DTZ.

He said: “It’s the big moment which holds the threat of a double dip, this time led by the public sector rather than financial institutions.

“In this climate we have to seek opportunities presented by recession because there is no new money.”

Peto also panned former prime minister Gordon Brown for aggressively implementing the private finance initiative model, which he said had brought about many of the large public deficit that the government is experiencing.

He said the PFI method of funding major projects was flawed and was the result of “greed and lack of discipline” among his own generation.

He said: “Through PFIs we hid the true cost of projects by transferring capital costs to revenue accounts.

“This will cost more to our children than I even care to think about.”

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