LDN Weekly – Issue 263 – 12 April 2023 - Hello, goodbye
HELLO, GOODBYE
"We don’t often start LDN with news about people, but this last week or so has seen some mixed news. Most notably London and the wider development industry has lost a passionate advocate and activist in Pam Alexander."
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Robert Gordon Clark, LCA Partner & Senior Advisor We hope you enjoy this edition and if you don't already, do follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. You can also visit our website for more information on LCA’s team, services, and clients. Oh and a technical note: If you like hearing from us, make sure to add ldn@londoncommunications.co.uk to your contacts or ‘safe sender’ list – this will help ensure our news bulletin lands in your inbox. IN THE ZONEJLL has produced research on London’s biggest regeneration zones, laying bare the potential of these developments. Relevant reports in the Evening Standard and MyLondon are rightly enthusiastic about 265,000 new homes in the pipeline across London and ‘15 micro cities’ where many of these are being brought forward. We spoke to JLL, who kindly provided some additional detail and clarification on the figures. JLL reached the 265,000 figure by analysing Molior London data. It is a rounded-up figure, specifically referring to the total number of homes on large (1,000+ home) schemes in the capital that are currently ‘in the planning process or under construction.’ However, about 10% of that figure actually corresponds to the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation’s (OPDC) still-aspirational target for 25,000 homes. The OPDC is the largest of the 15 most prominent development sites listed, which correspond to about 69,200 homes in planning or construction. They vary widely in character, size, and stage of development but JLL also points out that half of the 265,000 headline figure are in just five out of London’s 32 boroughs (namely Newham, Tower Hamlets, Barnet, Barking & Dagenham and Hammersmith & Fulham). JLL additionally warns that planning complications and construction costs may hold back the delivery of these and other schemes. We would of course like to think that more than half of the top 15 projects identified by JLL are in with a particularly good chance of delivery. We have been or are involved with seven, specifically Canada Water, Earl’s Court, Greenwich Peninsula, New Bermondsey, OPDC, Silvertown and TwelveTrees Park – testament to the breadth and depth of our experience as an agency, as well as our stellar client list. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUBEIt’s another busy week for Transport for London. To mark 160 years since the first Tube journey, TfL has ‘reimagined‘ historic posters from the London Transport Museum’s archive. These promote four iconic London cultural institutions, the English National Opera, London Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Centre and the Royal Opera House. They will be displayed across 80 Tube stations between 10 and 28 April, and for aficionados, prints can be bought from the museum’s shop. This is but one part of a savvy, feel-good campaign, launched in January to celebrate TfL’s heritage and promote the city’s cultural destinations. Less positively for London’s wider visitor economy, the Mayor’s Night Czar, Amy Lamé, has implied that an expansion of Night Tube services is unlikely in the foreseeable future. But back to good news for TfL, its development arm TTLP Properties has appointed Barratt London as its joint venture partner to develop the Bollo Lane site in Ealing. Separately, TTLP and Barratt have launched Wembley Park Gardens, another joint venture scheme between the two, in Brent. Meanwhile, four Tory-led Outer London boroughs and Surrey County Council have complained that the Mayor has started to install infrastructure for an expanded ULEZ before a judicial review bid (on which we have reported previously) is assessed. An initial decision from the High Court on whether to allow the judicial review application will proceed to trial is reportedly expected ‘any day now.’ LONDON PLANNING ROUNDUP
PEOPLE NEWS
SOCIAL HOUSING LATESTIn a busy few weeks for the social housing sector:
NO PLACE FOR WOMEN?Widely-publicised research has confirmed that local politics suffers from a dearth of women – but also that London is leading the charge towards achieving a more equitable gender balance on elected councils. Data collected by The Fawcett Society and Democracy Club indicates that across the UK, the proportion of elected female councillors in 2022 stood at 36%, only two percentage points up from their previous snapshot in 2018. The 2022 figures also indicate that men outnumber women in 95% of councils while only one in 20 have at least equal numbers of male and female representatives. Within the UK’s regions and nations, London can be proud to rank first, with 45% of the region’s councillors being female. Indeed, three of the UK’s top five councils with the highest proportion of women are in the capital, namely Haringey (at 65%), Lewisham (56%) and Southwark (also 56%). Northern Ireland sits at the other end of the regional scale, with only 26%. The performance of the parties in attracting (and electing) balanced council groups also varies widely, with Labour leading at 47% and the Ulster Unionist party languishing at 20%. The full report includes a number of recommendations for how authorities and political parties can strive for a better gender balance in local politics – as indeed they should. ESG RESEARCH ROUNDUP
LCA is delighted to confirm that Nick Bowes, the current Chief Executive of Centre for London and former Director of Policy to the Mayor of London will be our new Managing Director, Insight. Nick has spent the last two years running Centre for London and before that spent five years at City Hall following stints in Sadiq Khan’s parliamentary office, at the Labour Party, the CBI and the EEF. Nick will lead LCA’s dedicated Insight team – ensuring the agency is one step ahead when it comes to news and issues that affect our clients – and take on the head editorial role on LDN. He will also of course bring his expertise and deep understanding of policy and politics to clients. Jonny Popper, Chief Executive of LCA said:
Nick Bowes said:
Nick will start at LCA early in the Summer. LDN CONTRIBUTORSRobert Gordon Clark, Senior Advisor and Partner Jenna Goldberg, Partner & Managing Director, Insight Stefanos Koryzis, Account Director, Insight Emily Clinton, Account Manager, Insight LCA prides itself on its intelligence-led approach to PR and communications and our dedicated insight 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.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. |