3.17 The profit sharing approach recognises the commercial principle that generally speaking, a greater financial return can be received if land is only released immediately before it is to be developed, when as much uncertainty as possible has been removed from the development proposals. Not to do so would lead to a purchaser heavily discounting the amount of money paid, giving a lower return to the vendor. This is particularly the case in long term regeneration schemes where evidence has shown that the best financial results are to be made through real growth in the long term, and not in the short term. With a project on the scale of the Greenwich Peninsula redevelopment, the exposure to risk of any private sector company or consortium, however large, would be likely to lead to a very heavily discounted price for a one-off land sale. Another factor in favour of profit sharing is that a lasting partnership with English Partnerships, and hence the Government, gives Meridian Delta Ltd further confidence that the public sector will actively support the project in the long term, for example by enabling improvements in transport.