LDN Weekly – Issue 149 – 11 November 2020
THERE IS HOPE
I owe my fellow Board director, Jenna Goldberg, a profuse apology (rest assured, we do occasionally communicate more directly than through LDN editorials). She was clearly well-informed when she hinted at brighter days ahead.
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 BREAKING NEWS: CROYDON ISSUES S114Not long before before we went to print, several sources, including LBC and the BBC’s Tim Donovan reported that Croydon Council has issued a Section 114 notice - which is a declaration that it cannot balance its budget this year and that all new non-essential spending will be stopped. The council itself subsequently confirmed the reports. As we have reported previously in LDN, Croydon's finances have been strained to breaking point by a combination of factors, including a decade of austerity and the impact of Covid-19, while officers have been warning of this situation for a few months now. The situation had already led to the resignation and replacement of the Labour Council’s Leader, Chief Executive, and Cabinet Member for Finance. Last week, and after the Council's independent auditors' released a report which made for a sobering reading, the Communities Secretary announced a ‘rapid non-statutory review’ into the borough’s finances. We will be covering this latest development in more detail next week, but Croydon is the first local authority in England to issue a S114 notice since Northamptonshire County Council in 2018 and the only London authority in this position at the moment. The situation will be discussed at a full council meeting in the next 21 days and it is likely that the borough will look to government for financial support. IN HIBERNATION?Barely a week into its second full lockdown, London's economy is already feeling the strain. Last Friday, the Financial Times provided a grim snapshot of a newly-shuttered Square Mile, while the Evening Standard painted a bleak picture of the West End over the weekend. Nevertheless, Tuesday’s announcement of substantial progress towards a vaccine gives us all hope, while today’s extension of automatic freedom for restaurants, pubs and cafes to provide takeaway services until March 2022 is also a positive move for a sector of London’s economy that is among the hardest hit. The Mayor of London and London Councils have meanwhile written to the Communities Secretary, lobbying for an extension to the business rates holiday (due to end in March 2021) and other measures to help retail, leisure and hospitality businesses that have - again - been deprived of customers. Doing their bit, London Assembly Members ratcheted up the pressure on the Mayor to present a long-term plan for the city’s economic recovery, during a plenary session where they grilled Deputy Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills Jules Pipe, and Cllr Georgia Gould, leader of Camden Council and Chair of London Councils. OF LONDON HQsThis second flight of workers from Central London has reignited the debate about the very future of office-working (and property investment) as we know it. As if on cue, it was reported that oil and gas giant BP is close to selling its global headquarters at 1 St James’s Square for £250m. And yet, many insist that this is not nearly the ‘death of the office’ – and are putting their money where their mouth is. Hong Kong-based Tenacity has just submitted plans for a new 33-storey tower in the City; Derwent London last week committed to plans including 200,000 sq ft of office floorspace on Baker Street; and despite a tough year, LCA client Landsec remains confident that demand for office space will remain robust in the longer term, even if the kind of offices in demand will surely evolve. Look at Unilever, which last month announced plans for a brand-new HQ in leafy Kingston-upon-Thames, where it will consolidate teams from offices across London and Surrey, while retaining a foothold at its current ‘downtown’ Victoria Embankment headquarters. CULTURE STRIKES BACKMeanwhile, another key industry for London that has taken a kicking is… kicking back. After previous investors backed out, Barking and Dagenham Council has now entered a new agreement with US-based Hackman Capital Partners (HCP) to build Eastbrook Studios, a new TV and film production centre. The plans for up to 12 sound stages and three acres of backlot and office space, have already secured planning permission and are supported by the Mayor. Construction is set to start in 2021 and the studios should be operational in 2023. As reported by The Guardian, these are not the only new filming facilities planned in the UK. Also, back in London, plans have been unveiled for the installation of ‘the world’s largest digital canvas’ as part of the redevelopment of the Denmark Street area, near Tottenham Court Road tube station. Outernet Global’s planned 2,000 sq m, 360-degree screens will be home to artwork curated by Marco Brambilla, who has commissioned work by Marina Abramović for the display. There’s also good news for arts organisations rooted in their local communities: a partnership between the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Kings College London have opened submissions for a new award celebrating the civic role of arts organisations in society. SPORT CARRIES ONThere's also some positive news from the world of sport. Despite Covid-19, progress has been made towards realising plans for the redevelopment of Selhurst Park, after Croydon Council and the Mayor of London approved the terms of a S106 agreement with Crystal Palace F.C. The plans will see the stadium’s capacity increase from 26,000 to 34,000. On the subject of new stadiums, Wimbledon AFC played their first match in their new Plough Lane home on 4 November, almost 30 years after the club left Merton. Though this will serve as a boost to the club, they are currently in a row with the FA over… who won the 1988 FA Cup. Meanwhile, in the Commons, MPs recently debated a petition (which has now reached over 199,000 signatures) on permitting spectators to attend football matches across all levels of the sport following the raising of restrictions on 2 December. The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has also launched an inquiry into the future of Championship and lower league clubs. PEOPLE MOVES
 LOCKED DOWN AND LOCKED OUT?The announcement of a second lockdown has necessitated immediate action to support the housing needs of the most vulnerable, but initiatives by Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick have received a mixed responses. The announcement of a new £15m national ‘Protect Programme’, launched to help provide accommodation for rough sleepers, self-consciously underlined that this (rather paltry) allocation is only meant to top up a range of other programmes and funding commitments. London Councils has estimated that even accounting for this latest boost, London boroughs’ homelessness and rough sleeping budgets alone still face a shortfall of £13m this year. Housing charities Crisis and Shelter have also warned that the funding is not nearly enough on a nationwide basis. The Government also announced a fresh ban on the enforcement of eviction notices ‘until 11 January 2021 at the earliest, except for the most egregious cases such as anti-social behaviour.’ While the National Residential Landlords’ Association (NRLA) seems to have tentatively welcomed the move, housing charities are warning that even the more wide-ranging evictions ban implemented previously saw far too many people falling through the cracks. As per new statistics highlighted by Shelter, the proportion of private renters nationwide claiming housing benefit has risen from 31% of households in February, to 42% in August. MHCLG UNDER A MICROSCOPE?Indeed, the work Robert Jenrick’s department, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), seems to be the subject of ever-more scrutiny. The Commons' Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee has launched a survey seeking the views of the public on the current planning system. This is connected with, but separate from the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the future of the planning system, as part of which an oral evidence session took place on 9 November. Meanwhile, the Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a rather damning report into MHCLG’s management of the £3.6bn Town Fund, as well as launched an inquiry into ‘a range of current issues in the Department’s remit’ including ‘the recently announced major planning reforms.’ Beyond Parliament, the Government’s Planning for the future White Paper continues to garner mostly negative reactions: a recent letter to the Financial Times by several high-profile sector representatives and experts, has urged the Government not to ‘tear down’ the planning system. And only today, the Affordable Housing Commission has published the results of a survey asking social landlords what they think of the Government's proposed planning reforms (spoiler alert: they're not impressed). WITH SIX MONTHS TO GO...We are now only slightly less than six months (176 days, to be precise) from the elections for the London Mayor and Assembly, plus other local government elections across England, on 6 May 2021. The Cabinet Office is reportedly ‘adamant’ on proceeding with these elections, even if some areas are forced to tackle a backlog of elections amidst an ongoing public health emergency. In London, the Mayoral and Assembly elections are to coincide with by-elections for at least 10 vacant seats across six boroughs, while two boroughs are due to hold governance referendums. VOTING ON HOW MANY MAYORS?That’s right, two borough-level referendums are to be held on the future of the relevant councils' directly-elected Mayors, in addition to the citywide election for a Mayor of London. We have already reported that Newham is to hold a referendum, giving residents a choice between the current directly-elected Mayor model and the Committee System. It has now been announced by neighbouring Tower Hamlets’ directly-elected Mayor John Biggs that Labour councillors have supported his proposal for a referendum on 6 May, offering a choice between the current system and a Leader and Cabinet model. That proposal remains to be ratified formally by a Full Council meeting. CHECK YOUR FACTSBut back to the race for Mayor of London, Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey has scored a couple of wins, but also raised a few eyebrows. He'll be pleased to have been interviewed by… David Walliams for a glossy GQ feature, as well as to have gained the backing of former Islington Mayor and Labour defector Cllr Rakhia Ismail. However, Bailey has also come under fire for his campaign’s https://www.tflbailoutfacts.com/ website, with independent fact-checkers and journalists, as well as trade unions and of course the Mayor all calling foul. Meanwhile, (perhaps inspired by the Biden campaign’s successes across the pond), the Labour Party is again encouraging people to register for an early postal vote. As for the Liberal Democrats, Mayoral candidate Luisa Porritt spoke to OnLondon last week, arguing that she is uniquely focused on the city’s long-term future. 
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