LDN Weekly – Issue 129 – 10 June 2020
PROTESTS AMID A PANDEMIC
Last week I wrote about the shock of seeing London’s West End deserted on a sunny Saturday morning in late May.
No images? Click here PROTESTS AMID A PANDEMICLast week I wrote about the shock of seeing London’s West End deserted on a sunny Saturday morning in late May. Today, that shock has been replaced with deep thought and reflection at the Black Lives Matter protests on both sides of the Atlantic. I feel sadness that there is any need to protest of course, that it is happening now amid such heightened circumstances and that some of the action turned into violent confrontation. The social and political impacts of these events has led to a great deal of soul-searching, discussion and intense debate. It would be remiss of us not to mark it but it would also be irresponsible of us to weigh in too heavily at this point. We are listening, will try to learn and as always, our primary brief is to focus on the capital’s future. We are sure that the best future for our city is one that is diverse and free from racism; beyond that, well, it’s hard to be sure of much else these days. We do however very much welcome Mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision to establish a diversity commission to review London landmarks and hope it will be given time to assess, debate and decide on what goes and what stays. We also hope that other action will be taken by organisations across the capital to make sure that ‘London is Open’ is more than just a slogan. We will be looking at ourselves and what we can do and the positive signs are there that so many others are also reflecting on what more they can and should do and how we simply cannot be complacent any longer. As the private, public and third sectors struggle with Brexit and CV-19, London will only thrive again if we can convince the world that this is a safe, peaceful and positive place for everyone, a place where people’s aspirations are met with opportunity whether they are a property developer, a student, an immigrant or a key worker (or indeed, some or all of the above). - Robert Gordon Clark, Chairman BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS As Khan seeks to meet the campaigners’ demands and address racism in the capital, he faces other potential problems. While the large majority of those participating in the marches are perpetuating London’s long and proud history of peaceful protest, the small group who turned to violence appears to be dominating headlines. How this will impact London’s reputation in the long term remains to be seen, but at a time when investment could be crucial to recovery after the lockdown, this may represent yet another challenge for the Mayor. COVID-19 UPDATE
LONDON TRANSPORT LATEST
GRENFELL LATEST14 June will mark three years since the fire at Grenfell Tower. This year, to commemorate the victims of the disaster, over 80 of London’s churches will ring their bells 72 times and a vigil will be held on YouTube. Though the Inquiry into the fire had been put on hold due to current lockdown restrictions, it has now been confirmed that it will resume on 6 July. Attorney General Suella Braverman announced last week the extension of self-incrimination protection to ‘legal persons’ (such as ‘a limited liability partnership or an incorporated company’). This had previously only been applicable to individuals giving evidence to the Inquiry. Meanwhile, both the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary have provided updates regarding the progress made on the recommendations from the Phase 1 report: though the Government has made progress on some aspects, such as the £1bn fund for the removal of unsafe non-ACM cladding and establishment of a Fire Protection Board, the Building Safety Bill has not yet been published and, according to the Government’s latest data, in England, there are still ‘307 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations yet to be remediated’. PLANNING REFORMS ON THE WAY?Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick is reported to have established a panel of planning experts to advise the Government on potential ‘radical’ planning reforms as part of an economic stimulus package to be announced by the Prime Minister later this month. The panel is reportedly considering the prospect of creating a zonal planning system which will transfer decision making powers away from local authorities to development corporations with the overall aim of reducing the number of planning applications and speeding up decisions. According to the MJ, the proposals include dividing up areas, ‘in which some uses would be permitted and others forbidden’. It was also reported over the weekend that there are plans to change high street planning restrictions to allow units to easily change between shops, retail and residential use. Following the publication of ‘Planning Anew’, a report on the planning system by think tank Policy Exchange , Jenrick said that ‘the time has come to speed up and simplify this country’s overly bureaucratic planning process’. JENRICK REFUSES GREENWICH SCHEMES Meanwhile, the fallout from Jenrick’s decision to grant permission for the Westferry Printworks development continues to rumble on. The Labour Party last week asked the Prime Minister whether he had any involvement in the decision, especially as he had granted permission for a smaller scheme on the same site during his time as Mayor of London. The Daily Mail has also reported that the developer behind the proposals, Richard Desmond, allegedly made a large donation to the Conservative Party a fortnight before Jenrick gave the green light to the Tower Hamlets scheme. GROSVENOR COMMUNITY CHARTERThis week Grosvenor published ‘Positive Space’, their community charter for how they intend to work with communities as they take forward developments in the future. The charter has been designed to set a new standard for public engagement and is the next step in Grosvenor’s ongoing work to help rebuild public trust in the planning process and the management of neighbourhoods. For them it is one of the first practical attempts to deliver on the aspirations in Building Better for engagement to be 'wide, deep and early' and on some of the key requirements in the new (almost approved) London Plan. The ten-page charter focuses on four elements – listen first, open up, make it easier and be accountable. For each of these elements the developer has set out some important commitments they will make, totalling 25, and, in return, ask the communities to commit to some too, no less than 12. Much of the charter is relatively obvious, things which most developers should do as a matter of course, but listing out all the commitments provides a very useful check list. New to us is the idea of a 'Community Priority List' to be prepared early in the process and then reviewed as the proposals come forward. PEOPLE MOVES
BYE BYE BAILEY?It is being reported that senior Conservative figures and donors want to replace mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey with a more high profile figure, after the most recent polls prior to the postponing of the elections until 2021 showed that Bailey was behind incumbent Sadiq Khan by 25%. It is rumoured that former Chancellor and MP for Bromsgrove, Sajid Javid has been approached about replacing Bailey, though a spokesperson has denied this and expressed support for Bailey. Similarly, an official Conservative Party spokesperson has insisted that Bailey retains the party’s support. A campaign source also dismissed the rumours, saying that while a small number of people within the party ‘would have preferred someone more traditional’, there is no possibility of Bailey being replaced. LDN CONTRIBUTORSRobert Gordon Clark, Executive Chairman and Partner Jenna Goldberg, Director Stefanos Koryzis, Research Manager Emily Clinton, Research Executive Nabila Roukhamieh-Mckinna, Research Intern Mel Webber, Junior Designer LCA prides itself on its intelligence-led approach to PR and communications and our dedicated research team monitors London politics, news and issues as it happens. If you would like to know more about LCA or anything in this edition of LDN – London in short please get in touch. Email us ![endif]>![if> If you have received LDN Weekly indirectly and would like to subscribe to receive it every week, please click here to register your details.LDN is put together by a dedicated team at London Communications Agency. The content for each edition is developed from news drawn from the last week from every London local paper as well as the regional and national press, from intelligence gathered by monitoring local, regional and national government activity and from the insight and expert knowledge of the entire LCA team. |