The London Urban Transformation Commission (LUTC) January 2018
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Seizing the opportunities: A new approach for transforming London Supported by Seizing the Opportunities A new approach for transforming London The London Urban Transformation Commission (LUTC) January 2018 1 Contents 1: Context and Objectives p.04 Case Study: Greenwich Peninsula p.31 London’s housing crisis p.05 Case Study: London affordable housing and viability SPG 2017 p.32 A problem for business p.08 D: Scarcity of skills and financial resource p.34 Opportunity and Intensification Areas p.10 Case Study: Battersea Power Station p.35 The task at hand p.12 3: Recommendations p.38 2: Diagnosis of the situation p.14 Recommendation 1: formation of an OA A: Persistent shortfall in collective sense of Delivery Board p.39 urgency, vision and leadership p.16 Recommendation 2: formation of a properly Case Study: Southwark p.19 resourced Urban Transformation Team p.40 Case Study: Barking and Dagenham p.21 Recommendation 3: reforms to enable London government to invest p.42 B: Flawed expectations of the respective roles of the private and public sectors p.22 Recommendation 4: investing in the OAs to meet Case Study: Kings Cross Central p.25 London’s needs p.44 C: Inhibiting effect of planning complexity, Implementation p.45 upfront risk-taking and uncertainty p.26 Appendix A: List of Consultees p.46 Case Study: The experiences of London’s Development Corporations p.28 Appendix B: Methodology p.48 LUTC Commissioners Stephen Sue Martin Nick Warrington Brown Bellinger Belsten Non-Executive Executive Director, Director of Director, Director, Planning and Essential Land Indigo Planning London First (Chair) Development, London First Jeremy Dr Nancy Andrew Lee Castle Holman Jones Polisano Director, Planning, Director of Director and President, Deloitte Planning Studies, Practice Leader, PLP London School of AECOM Economics Simon Rob Roberta Paul Durkin Tincknell Downey Ward Director of Strategy, Chief Executive Partner, Head of Research and Officer, Hogan Lovells Regeneration, Operations, Battersea Power Barratt London Seaforth Land Station 2 Seizing the opportunities: A new approach for transforming London To sustain London’s success, stepping up the delivery of new homes and jobs, the capital must get its act together to drive the transformation of large, underproductive areas. London is pre-eminent as a global The London Urban Transformation The new draft London Plan, published city. Its success has been sustained Commission (LUTC) has brought in November 2017, outlines the over the centuries through evolution together practitioners and consulted Mayor’s Good Growth Agenda, which around its distinctive underlying widely to consider why London has includes a range of policies aimed at advantages. Over the last few struggled to transform many of increasing house building, supporting decades London has experienced a its OAs and similar locations into economic growth and improving marked period of growth, particularly productive places. It identifies what the quality of life of Londoners. The in terms of its population and is needed to help accelerate progress Plan also introduces a welcome new economic output. to create great places to live and focus by the Mayor on delivering the work, at pace, volume, quality and potential of London’s OAs. This is an As a consequence of this growth affordability for the long-term encouraging first step, along with and success, combined with various success of London. other moves being made by boroughs factors that have constrained and across much of the development the boldness of London’s housing It is striking, and encouraging, sector in London. The emphasis on and planning policies, the capital that the intentions of virtually delivery is the correct focus. The LUTC is facing a housing crisis and all stakeholders in London are offers its findings, and in particular its significant pressure on sustaining its constructive and seeking positive perspectives on achieving the delivery attractiveness as a place to work. outcomes. However, in the context of challenging goals, as a contribution The long-term economic and social of often challenging OAs that to the London Plan consultation and vitality of London is under threat, and need significant investment into as a platform for further discussion although this is widely recognised, the infrastructure and require expensive about how to maintain London’s city’s collective progress in addressing remediation works—in addition to global competitiveness. these issues remains inadequate. navigating the usual obstacles to development—the city is failing to find On behalf of London First, I would like London’s scarcest resource is land, processes and ways of doing things to thank the LUTC’s Commissioners but across the city there are large that are adequate to the task. for their enthusiastic work and our areas of derelict or significantly extensive group of consultees who underutilised brownfield sites. London must change the way it have given generously of their time Many of these sites have been approaches delivery in Opportunity and insights. We also thank our designated in successive London Areas and the way it finances and partner, AECOM, for the support Plans as Opportunity Areas (OAs), funds infrastructure investment provided throughout this initiative. to focus attention and resources and housing delivery in these areas. on bringing them back into active Determined leadership, within both use. The OAs are really significant, the public and private sectors, is representing around one fifth of required to achieve this. The Mayor, London’s land. However, with some with the largest direct democratic notable exceptions, progress on mandate in the UK, and the Greater their transformation into thriving London Authority and its functional Stephen Warrington communities to live and work has bodies including Transport for London First Board Member and been patchy and, overall, slow. The London, all have a critical role to play. Chair of LUTC consequent economic and social opportunity cost in terms of homes and employment forgone is huge. 3 1: Context and Objectives The UK is facing substantial political and During 2017, London First brought together economic change and uncertainty as it prepares built-environment practitioners to form the to exit the EU. The impact of Brexit will be felt London Urban Transformation Commission acutely in London, due to the capital’s status as (LUTC). The Commission consulted extensively a global city open to international trade and as with stakeholders from the public and private a magnet for talent from across the world. Yet sectors to deliberate what can be done to the external global challenges that London must accelerate development in OAs, and across confront head-on are rivalled by particularly other strategic sites that offer the potential testing internal domestic challenges that the to create great places to live and work. Before city must address if it is to continue to thrive explaining how the LUTC approached this task, and, in concert with other UK cities, drive the the broader backdrop against which its work UK’s economic growth. sits is outlined below. An inadequate supply of housing sits at the very heart of London’s domestic challenges, posing a threat to the capital’s social and economic vitality. Without an increase in housing supply, many parts of London will also fail to benefit from the associated commercial development “The capital’s scarcest that is integral to creating vibrant places and flourishing communities. The capital’s scarcest resource—land—is not resource—land—is being underutilised to address this issue. This is even the case in large being fully utilised.“ areas of London that have been identified and deemed as especially appropriate for development, and in which much of London’s future housing supply is locked up—namely Opportunity Areas (OAs). Beyond London’s housing deficit, global trends in fields such as energy, infrastructure and digitalisation are combining with broader factors such as urbanisation and demographic change to present new challenges and opportunities for regeneration in the capital. In the same way that developers and built- environment professionals have previously devised compelling responses to London's challenges, there is strong evidence to suggest this is happening again through new forms of residential and workplace development that align with the city’s ever-growing need for both more social and physical infrastructure. 4 Seizing the opportunities: A new approach for transforming London London’s housing crisis In the post-war era, London’s population was in This was, of course, a very different era: one of decline (see Figure 1), yet significant numbers post-war reconstruction, slum clearance and of new homes were being built (see Figure 2). a lighter-touch planning regime, to name but Indeed, during the 1950s and 1960s General three factors; this context helps to explain the Elections were contested on which political comparatively high levels of housebuilding. party would build the most homes. Figure 1: Historic and projected London population, 1801 to 2035 12 2015 Population reaches 8.67m 10 1939 Population reaches 8.62m 8 6 Population (millions) 4 2 0 1801 1821 1841 1861 1881 1901 1921 1941 1961 1981 2001 2021 Key London total Outer London Inner London 5 A century of London's Urban Transformation Figure 2: New homes built in London 1871–2015 and milestones in the development of the city 1966-7 1938 London London Green Belt Ringways established (London and Scheme