Boosting London’s productivity growth rate back to 2% would mean its economy could be £107bn larger in 2035 – and contributing an extra £27.5bn in tax revenue to the Exchequer. That growth is vital to residents’ quality of life, to national growth and investment potential, and (particularly with last week’s fiscal devolution announcements) to funding and financing further investment into growth infrastructure.
“The UK economy cannot grow without London firing on all cylinders”
London Growth Plan, page 8
The publication of the draft London Plan offers an important opportunity to consider how London delivers on the ambitions set out in the London Growth Plan, and to consider how London can drive much needed regional and national growth.
Last year’s Growth Plan set out a vision for a more productive, innovative and globally competitive London, but with relatively little detail on how and where this would be made to happen. The draft London Plan provides the spatial framework needed to accommodate development.
Considered together, they highlight a challenge faced by many places across the UK: the gap between ambition and execution. We are getting better at identifying what good growth looks like, but not at keeping pace in delivery.
Three initial observations on how planning and development can be better positioned to support economic growth...
1. The draft London Plan speaks to managing growth, rather than driving opportunity. The London Growth Plan is unapologetically focused on productivity, innovation and competitiveness. The draft London Plan has a different purpose, focusing on land use, housing, infrastructure and managing development. It plays a vital statutory and compliance role.
But growth in London comes from the performance of interconnected ecosystems, new growth sectors driving future employment opportunity, and globally competitive business clusters. And the economy of tomorrow will require new types of space, new relationships between economic and social infrastructure, and a more fleet of foot approach to landing opportunity.
The opportunity is to more effectively link London’s economic ambitions and its spatial requirements.
2. Strategic economic clusters warrant greater prominence. The Plan rightly recognises major growth locations and strategic economic clusters. But some of London’s most important economic assets are not simply development opportunities, they are globally significant centres of innovation.
The Knowledge Quarter, White City, Stratford, and so on operate as connected ecosystems of research, talent, business growth and investment. Their significance extends beyond their immediate development potential, and their development requires interdisciplinary, creative solutions.
The opportunity is to consider how ecosystems operate across different locations, and what future growth specialisms mean for space, infrastructure and development.
3. Economic growth needs stronger spatial and delivery coherence. London’s growth constraints are rarely singular. Housing delivery, innovation space, infrastructure and regeneration all depend on sophisticated combinations of viability, investment, institutional capacity and partnership. Growth happens because strategic leadership, planning, funding and governance come together around shared propositions.
The opportunity is to more effectively link economic opportunity to the spatial, planning and development levers needed to unlock growth at pace and scale.
None of this is a criticism of the draft London Plan. A statutory planning document cannot answer every question about growth, investment and delivery. Equally, a London-wide Growth Plan cannot prescribe implementation arrangements for every place.
It is not, however, a constructive position for a statutory document to focus on managing growth whilst the economic and policy imperative is for London to be driving growth. There is a missing middle: a need to translate strategic ambition into investable propositions, delivery vehicles, partnerships and programmes capable of realising growth.
The London Plan should embed more of the economic vision and opportunity; beyond the Plan itself, delivery is the next frontier for London’s growth agenda.