Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy
Invest and grow in Ealing
London’s connected borough
Draft – 16th May 2006
Regeneration and Major Projects Rosecliffe Associates Urban Regeneration Consultants
Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 1
1. OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC REGENERATION STRATEGY ...... 6
1.1 A NEW VISION FOR EALING ...... 6
1.2 THE OPPORTUNITIES ...... 6
1.3 SPREADING THE BENEFITS OF REGENERATION ...... 7
1.4 THE REGENERATION STRATEGY’S OBJECTIVE AND THEMES ...... 7
1.5 SIX ACHIEVEMENTS THAT WILL TRANSFORM EALING ...... 7
2. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STRATEGY ...... 9
2.1 SUMMARY ...... 9
2.2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES: QUALITY, SUSTAINABILITY, INCLUSION ...... 12
2.3 SOME KEY FACTS ABOUT EALING ...... 15
2.4 WHAT IS LIKELY TO SHAPE EALING’S ECONOMY OVER THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS? ...... 16
3. THE CONTEXT FOR THE STRATEGY ...... 17
3.1 NATIONAL AND LONDON CONTEXT ...... 17
3.2 WEST LONDON CONTEXT ...... 18
4. THE STRATEGY’S FOUR THEMES ...... 27
4.1 STRATEGY THEME: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, PROPERTY AND INFRASTRUCTURE ...... 27 4.1.1 The Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor ...... 27 4.1.2 Park Royal and the A40 Corridor ...... 33 4.1.3 Protecting and developing Ealing’s town centres ...... 36
4.2 STRATEGY THEME: SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF BUSINESSES AND JOBS ...... 37 4.2.1 Business Support in Ealing: the present position ...... 37 4.2.2 Growth sectors: promoting indigenous growth and inward investment...... 38 4.2.3 Promoting the enterprise culture among under-represented groups ...... 39 4.2.4 What the Council can do to support local businesses ...... 40
4.3 STRATEGY THEME: PEOPLE – EDUCATION, SKILLS AND ECONOMIC INCLUSION ...... 41
4.4 STRATEGY THEME: MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES ...... 47 4.4.1 Management structures ...... 47 4.4.2 Powers and resources ...... 48 5. OPPORTUNITIES, THEMES, PROJECTS AND HOW THEY INTERRELATE ...... 49
5.1 HEATHROW-PADDINGTON CORRIDOR ...... 49
5.2 GROWTH OF NEW AND INCOMING BUSINESSES ...... 51
5.3 PARK ROYAL/A40 CORRIDOR ...... 52
5.4 ENSURING WIDER BENEFITS ...... 53
6. IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STRATEGY FOR OTHER STRATEGIES ...... 56
7. MEASURING SUCCESS ...... 59
APPENDIX 1: TOWN CENTRE PROGRAMMES ...... 61
APPENDIX 2: EVIDENCE AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ...... 72 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
Executive Summary
1. This strategy proposes actions to build the economic strength of Ealing and to put in place the economic and physical links that are necessary if all areas and communities are to be able to take advantage of economic growth and of related improvements to town centres, housing, the environment, health, sports and cultural facilities. In this way, it will help to make a reality of the new vision for the Borough:
By 2016 Ealing will be a successful borough at the heart of west London, where everyone has the opportunities to prosper and live fulfilling lives in communities which are safe, cohesive and engaged.
2. This strategy draws on the global national, London and West London context but is based on Ealing’s specific opportunities and needs. The overriding objective of the Strategy is:
To capture the benefits of Ealing’s globally significant location and development opportunities through ambitious investment, infrastructure and sector initiatives.
3. Ealing’s regeneration will be based on opportunities in
. the Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor; . Park Royal and the A40 corridor; . business sectors with the capacity to expand; . Ealing’s town centres;
and on . transport services that ensure these opportunities are easily accessible from all parts of the borough.
4. The strategy links economic regeneration with action on housing, health, education and transport, in order to ensure that all of Ealing’s residents benefit from and contribute to making the most of these opportunities.
5. The strategy has three guiding principles: quality, sustainability and inclusion.
6. The strategy is organised around four themes:
. Place: Sustainable development of the environment, property and infrastructure . Enterprise: Sustainable growth of businesses and jobs . People: Education, skills & economic inclusion . Leadership: Management and Resources
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 1 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
7. Arising out of these themes, Ealing will pursue six central activities designed to transform the way Ealing pursues regeneration and brings benefits to its residents:
i. To establish Southall as the gateway to Europe for investment from South Asia by creating on 60 hectares of brownfield land a high-density, high-quality, public- transport-based development suitable for enterprises in the ‘knowledge industries’, enhanced by high-quality housing, retail, hotels, leisure and entertainment activities and a particularly ‘green’ environment.
ii. Through a partnership with major landowners, to ensure the high-quality redevelopment of central Ealing, with a set of landmark buildings and distinctive features that will differentiate central Ealing from other metropolitan centres and draw the maximum benefit from its transport connections.
iii. To strengthen the north of the Borough by encouraging the growth of modern, flexible companies in the A40 corridor, building on Ealing’s traditional strength in supplying and servicing of other businesses at Heathrow Airport, in Central London and in the Thames Valley, resulting in the redevelopment of at least 20 hectares of brownfield land.
iv. To increase the economic activity rate in Ealing from 72.8 % to 75% and to ensure that in no wards, compared with the present 19, do more than 20% of households have an annual income lower than the fifth statistical band (currently £20,000-£25,000).
v. To work with the Learning and Skills Council to develop a credible skills strategy that increases the proportion of residents of working age qualified at Level 3 or above from 49% to 60%; and those at Level 4 and above from 35.2% to 45%, in order to support a high-skill, high-wage economy.
vi. To make Ealing’s town centres a focus of investment in order to maximise local opportunities and promote economically and environmentally sustainable development.
8. A set of tables in Section 5 in this strategy shows the opportunities and the themes in relation to these six key achievements, and the projects that will underpin them.
9. Over the past twenty-five years, Ealing has seen most of the former manufacturing sites change their use to distribution, head offices or to various hybrid activities. Areas such as Acton and Southall which had supplied a high proportion of the employees in manufacturing suffered particularly badly. Social problems resulted and parts of these areas became known as poor and undesirable areas. By the time growth started again, there was a wide gap between the skills needed for many of the new jobs and the skills available in these areas. This process was repeated in the early 1990s.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 2 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
10. The long period of growth from the mid-1990s has eased the position but there are still significant needs for skills development and for special initiatives to ensure people in the greatest difficulty can enter employment. The regeneration partnerships are all implementing such initiatives, in co-operation with the Council and Jobcentre Plus.
The former manufacturing belt where Ealing’s economic strength originally developed
Northolt ~ Greenford ~ Perivale
Park Royal
Acton Southall
A new framework for regeneration in Ealing – opportunities and connections
A 40 Park Royal – A40 Corridor Northolt ~ Greenford ~ Perivale
Park Royal Paddington Necessary improvements to orbital public transport City Canary Wharf Acton M Line Ealing Acton Centre
Southall Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor Heathrow
11. Ealing is now far more dependent on office, retail and leisure employment than on manufacturing. This makes its town centres particularly significant as concentrations of economic activity, in addition to their important retail and cultural functions.
12. Technological change and the growth of India and China will have a direct impact on Ealing, influencing the location and type of manufacturing but also the demand for services provided in London for global companies and their suppliers.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 3 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
13. Transport improvements, with direct links to Heathrow through Ealing Broadway and Southall (via ‘Heathrow Connect’ and later Crossrail), are making Ealing an attractive destination for inward investment. India can be central to this, for the benefit of London as a whole.
14. The size and strength of Ealing’s diverse communities, and their established connections with the Sub-continent, give the Borough an advantage it can readily build on to encourage new investment.
What is likely to shape Ealing’s economy over the next twenty years?
Heathrow's expansion and modernisation generating demand for goods and services and attracting headquarters activities
External Central London, the City, Canary Wharf: as a Drivers of market and a source of innovation and finance Change
2005
to
2025 World trends in ICT & increasing importance of India and China
Opportunity to attract to Ealing inward investment of national importance, based on Ealing’s internal advantages and location in West London
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 4 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
15. Substantial areas of land are potentially available at key points along the Heathrow- Paddington corridor for major inward investment as well as for the growth of existing firms. These are large enough, at least in Southall, to enable developments of national significance but with enormous local benefits to take place.
16. The Park Royal/A40 corridor remains attractive for firms supplying goods or services to Central London. It provides a mix of economic activities and employment in modern manufacturing, logistics, and offices. For some firms, the connection outwards to the Thames Valley and Oxford is important.
17. Orbital public transport services linking to the Heathrow-Paddington corridor at Southall, Ealing Centre and Acton Main Line, are not yet good enough for all of Ealing’s residents and businesses to benefit from the transformed radial links. This is a major deficiency which needs to be overcome, particularly for residents in the north and north-west of the borough.
18. The number of jobs available across the West London sub-region is not matched by the supply of suitably educated or skilled people seeking employment. At the same time, Ealing has a relatively small but still significant number of people seeking but not obtaining employment.
19. A way of ensuring inclusion is to enable people to participate fully in the economy. This involves action under all themes listed above, but also specific action to ensure people have the necessary education and skills and are helped to overcome other obstacles facing particular groups or communities. It will also involve working to increase the proportion of residents qualified at Level 3 and Level 4 in order to support a high-skill, high-wage economy.
20. The major programme of housing renewal is central to the regeneration of Ealing.
21. This strategy will be implemented through the Ealing Local Strategic Partnership, with the Council’s Director for Business and Community Development taking a lead role.
22. The strategy will help to bring together activity around economic and physical development, transport and other infrastructure and will help to ensure that activity on education, housing, health, crime, children and young people and social cohesion helps to achieve the strategy’s objectives and the objectives of the Community Strategy.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 5 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
1. Overview of the Economic Regeneration Strategy
1.1 A new vision for Ealing
The Ealing Local Strategic Partnership’s consultation draft for the new Community Strategy, Success through Diversity (April 2006), sets out a new vision for the Borough:
By 2016 Ealing will be a successful borough at the heart of west London, where everyone has the opportunities to prosper and live fulfilling lives in communities which are safe, cohesive and engaged.
This strategy proposes actions to build the economic strength of Ealing and to put in place the economic and physical links that are necessary if all areas and communities are to be able to take advantage of economic growth and of related improvements to town centres, housing, the environment, health, sports and cultural facilities. In this way, it will help to make a reality of the new vision.
1.2 The opportunities
Ealing’s regeneration will be based on opportunities in
. the Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor;
. Park Royal and the A40 corridor;
. business sectors with the capacity to expand;
. Ealing’s town centres; and on
. transport services that ensure these opportunities are easily accessible from all parts of the borough.
Figure 1: A framework for regeneration in Ealing – opportunities and connections
A 40 Park Royal – A40 Corridor
Northolt ~ Greenford ~ Perivale
Park Royal Paddington Necessary improvements to orbital public transport City Canary Wharf Acton M Line Ealing Acton Centre
Southall Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor Heathrow
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 6 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
1.3 Spreading the benefits of regeneration
The strategy links economic regeneration with action on housing, health, education and transport, in order to ensure that all of Ealing’s residents benefit from and contribute to making the most of these opportunities. In line with other Ealing strategies, there is a particular emphasis on people in Southall, Acton and parts of the north of the Borough who are not benefiting fully from the present strong economic conditions in Ealing.
The strategy has three guiding principles: Quality, Sustainability and Inclusion. Good-quality development, particularly in economically strong sectors, contributes to economic and environmental sustainability and to raising the quality of life. Social and economic inclusion is socially just, and should be one of the important outcomes of this strategy. It also contributes to economic sustainability.
1.4 The Regeneration Strategy’s objective and themes
This Strategy draws on the global national, London and West London context but is based on Ealing’s specific opportunities and needs. The overriding objective of the Strategy is:
To capture the benefits of Ealing’s globally significant location and development opportunities through ambitious investment, infrastructure and sector initiatives.
The Strategy is organised around four themes:
Place: Sustainable development of the environment, property and infrastructure Enterprise: Sustainable growth of businesses and jobs People: Education, skills & economic inclusion Leadership: Management and Resources
1.5 Six achievements that will transform Ealing
Arising out of these themes, Ealing will pursue six central activities designed to transform the way Ealing pursues regeneration and brings benefits to its residents:
1) To establish Southall as the gateway to Europe for investment from South Asia by creating on 60 hectares of brownfield land a high-density, high-quality, public-transport-based development suitable for enterprises in the ‘knowledge industries’, enhanced by high-quality housing, retail, hotels, leisure and entertainment activities and a particularly ‘green’ environment.
2) Through a partnership with major landowners, to ensure the high-quality redevelopment of central Ealing, with a set of landmark buildings and distinctive features that will differentiate central Ealing from other metropolitan centres and draw the maximum benefit from its transport connections.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 7 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
3) To strengthen the north of the Borough by encouraging the growth of modern, flexible companies in the A40 corridor, building on Ealing’s traditional strength in supplying and servicing of other businesses at Heathrow Airport, in Central London and in the Thames Valley, resulting in the redevelopment of at least 20 hectares of brownfield land.
4) To increase the economic activity rate in Ealing from 72.8 % to 75% and to ensure that in no wards, compared with the present 19, do more than 20% of households have an annual income lower than the fifth statistical band (currently £20,000-£25,000).
5) To work with the Learning and Skills Council to develop a credible skills strategy that increases the proportion of residents of working age qualified at Level 3 or above from 49% to 60%; and those at Level 4 and above from 35.2% to 45%, in order to support a high-skill, high- wage economy.
6) To make Ealing’s town centres a focus of investment in order to maximise local opportunities and promote economically and environmentally sustainable development.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 8 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
2. Justification of the strategy
2.1 Summary
Over the past twenty-five years, Ealing has seen most of the former manufacturing sites change their use to distribution, head offices or to various hybrid activities. The suddenness and harshness of this process at its most intense – during the early 1980s – had a lasting impact. It made many skills redundant, left concentrations of unemployment and an awareness for many people of the underlying fragility of the economy even in times of prolonged growth.
Areas such as Acton and Southall which had supplied a high proportion of the employees in manufacturing suffered particularly badly. Social problems resulted and parts of these areas became known as poor and undesirable areas. By the time growth started again, there was a wide gap between the skills needed for many of the new jobs and the skills available in these areas. This process was repeated in the early 1990s.
Additionally, as in other parts of West London, such areas contained the neighbourhoods where local authorities could house the many new communities of refugees, many of whom spoke too little English to enter employment easily and had qualifications that were not recognised in the UK.
The long period of growth from the mid-1990s has eased the position but there are still significant needs for skills development and for special initiatives to ensure people in the greatest difficulty can enter employment. The regeneration partnerships, Park Royal Partnership, Southall Regeneration Partnership and Action Acton, are all implementing such initiatives, in a developing partnership that also involves the Council and Jobcentre Plus.
ice cream, Wall’s meat, Lyon’s Maid ice cream, Northolt ~ Greenford ~ Lyons tea and coffee, RHM Foods, Quaker Oats, Perivale Unigate); chemicals and cosmetics (Cheseborough Pond’s, Expandite, Elizabeth Park Arden); and industrial-scale service Royal industries, such as laundries in Acton and catering firms in Perivale. Both the large and the small firms were for a long time highly labour-intensive, operating in Acton Southall what would now be considered to be crowded,
difficult and sometimes unsafe conditions. Though this was highly successful for several Figure 2: The former manufacturing belt decades, Ealing has spent much of the past where Ealing’s economic strength twenty years adapting to the relocation and originally developed. restructuring of manufacturing both within the UK and globally. Ealing has seen most of the former Major industrial sectors were electrical, mechanical, instrument, defence, automotive manufacturing sites change their use to distribution, head offices or to various hybrid and railway engineering (large firms, such as Hoover, Rolls Royce, GKN, Dowty, AEC, Lucas, activities that add value to goods manufactured elsewhere. Since this is a continuing process Metal Box, Aladdin, Fidelity Radio, Landis & Gyr) but also many smaller firms building cars or (with much of the world’s manufacturing now providing the machine tools and components for moving to China), the former industrial areas are the engineering sectors); food and drink (Wall’s still in a state of transition.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 9 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
Ealing is now far more dependent on office, retail and leisure employment than on manufacturing. This makes its town centres particularly significant as concentrations of economic activity, in addition to their important retail and cultural functions. Some key growth sectors, such as media, are heavily concentrated in areas such as central Ealing. The public sector, including the local authority, the health service and education, is a substantial employer and market for goods and services. Heathrow Airport, outside the borough, is a major source of employment for Ealing residents.
Employment change is reflected in the predominance of higher-skill occupations that have replaced the manufacturing jobs in Ealing:
Numbers % Managers and senior officials 24,000 15.9 Professional occupations 24,000 16.1 Associate professional & technical 32,000 21.3 Administrative & secretarial 19,000 12.7 Skilled trades occupations 12,000 8.2 Personal service occupations 8,000 5.3 Sales and customer service occs 10,000 6.4 Process plant & machine operatives 8,000 5.1 Process plant & machine operatives 8,000 5.1 Elementary occupations 13,000 9.0 Source: Local Area Labour Force Survey (March 2003-Feb 2004)
Technological change and the growth of India and China will have a direct impact on Ealing, influencing the location and type of manufacturing but also the demand for services provided in London for global companies and their suppliers.
Transport improvements, with direct links to Heathrow through Ealing Broadway and Southall (via ‘Heathrow Connect’ and later Crossrail), are making Ealing an attractive destination for inward investment. India can be central to this, for the benefit of London as a whole.
‘India has become one of the fastest-growing nations in the world, and is the only developing country among the top ten nations for both attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and making investments globally. Over the last 8 years, India’s overseas investment in Europe has seen an incredible rise of 450%, according to Ernst & Young’s European Investment Monitor.
‘The picture for London is especially bright, as the capital alone accounts for half of all European investment from India.’ Report by Think London, London’s inward investment agency, 2005
The size and strength of Ealing’s diverse communities, and their established connections with the Sub-continent, give the Borough an advantage it can readily build on to encourage new investment.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 10 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
Substantial areas of land are potentially available at key points along the Heathrow-Paddington corridor for major inward investment as well as for the growth of existing firms. These are large enough, at least in Southall, to enable developments of national significance but with enormous local benefits to take place.
The Park Royal/A40 corridor remains attractive for firms supplying goods or services to Central London. It provides a mix of economic activities and employment in modern manufacturing, logistics, and offices. For some firms, the connection outwards to the Thames Valley and Oxford is important.
Orbital public transport services linking to the Heathrow-Paddington corridor at Southall, Ealing Centre and Acton Main Line, are not yet good enough for all of Ealing’s residents and businesses to benefit from the transformed radial links. This is a major deficiency which needs to be overcome, particularly for residents in the north and north-west of the borough.
Strong communities are also outward-looking communities, whose members play a full part in the society and take advantage of the full range of opportunities available. The transformation of housing in Southall, Acton and in some of the outlying areas will improve the quality of life of residents. However, in order to enable all residents to have ‘the opportunity to prosper and lead fulfilling lives’, these improvements need to be matched by concerted efforts to raise educational levels, to reduce health inequalities, to make appropriate skills training easily available and, through public transport services, to make employment but also wider cultural, leisure and sporting opportunities easily accessible from the improved housing areas.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 11 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
2.2 Guiding principles: Quality, Sustainability, Inclusion Quality
The pursuit of quality should be a guiding principle for regeneration in Ealing as a whole. This involves:
raising the quality of businesses in terms of their management and viability, the products and services they offer, their attitude to the environment and environmental sustainability and to the communities where they operate or which provide their labour force;
raising the quality of jobs, in terms of skills required, earnings, opportunities for progression, security of employment and a suitable environment in which to work; both public and private investment will be needed to implement this consistently;
raising the quality of development and public spaces in order to attract and retain firms, to provide an acceptable working environment, to ensure that the number of high-quality jobs is increased, and to contribute to environmental sustainability, since it is cheaper over the life of a building to ensure a high standard of design from the start.
A particular issue for Ealing is that there is a significant residue of industrial buildings that do not provide a decent working environment. In line with policies on residential accommodation, it should be unacceptable to expect people to work in low-grade accommodation in a poor-quality environment.
This strategy sets out a formal commitment to ensuring that the quality of all places of employment is at least as high as the residential standard the Government requires in its ‘Decent Homes for All’ policy.
The commitment to quality also needs to be applied across all of the activities concerned with or contributing to regeneration: the renewal and redevelopment of infrastructure (such as public transport) and the provision of services in education, health, crime reduction, for instance.
Poor-quality development is unacceptable… Good design ensures attractive usable, durable and adaptable places and is a key element in achieving sustainable development. Good design is indivisible from good planning. Planning authorities should plan positively for the achievement of high quality and inclusive design for all development, including individual buildings, public and private spaces and wider area development schemes. Good design should contribute positively to making places better for people. Design which is inappropriate in its context, or which fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions, should not be accepted. High quality and inclusive design should be the aim of all those involved in the development process. High quality and inclusive design should create well-mixed and integrated developments which avoid segregation and have well-planned public spaces that bring people together and provide opportunities for physical activity and recreation. It means ensuring a place will function well and add to the overall character and quality of the area, not just for the short term but over the lifetime of the development. Planning Policy Statement 1: ‘Delivering Sustainable Development’ (ODPM, March 2005)
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 12 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
Sustainability
Sustainability is related to quality but also goes further. A number of major new development proposals in London, such as ‘Stratford City’ and Cricklewood-Brent Cross-West Hendon have built into their development frameworks a range of criteria designed to ensure environmental sustainability (in terms of building design, energy use, waste management, transport, open space and biodiversity, for instance).
This strategy has as a principle the expectation that at least these standards would be required for major growth projects in Ealing. The West London economy is strong enough for developers to be able to afford to meet such standards, while this approach would contribute long-term financial benefits to the sub-region but also to developers and occupiers of sites affected.
Another aspect of sustainability is that there is a large and growing market for goods and services that contribute to environmental sustainability. In some of the former industrial areas in particular, a sustained effort to develop a cluster of firms in this market would contribute further to supporting both quality and sustainability.
Economic sustainability…
Planning authorities should: (i) Recognise that economic development can deliver environmental and social benefits; …
(iii) Ensure that suitable locations are available for industrial, commercial, retail, public sector…; (iv) Provide for improved productivity, choice and competition, particularly when technological and other requirements of modern business are changing rapidly; ‘(v) Recognise that all local economies are subject to change; …
(vi) Actively promote and facilitate good quality development, which is sustainable and consistent with their plans; (vii) Ensure the provision of sufficient, good quality, new homes (including an appropriate mix of housing and adequate levels of affordable housing) in suitable locations… Planning Policy Statement 1: ‘Delivering Sustainable Development’ (ODPM, March 2005)
Inclusion
Inclusion, in economic and social terms, is a vital outcome of an effective regeneration strategy. The disproportionate impact of unemployment among some of Ealing’s black and minority ethnic communities and young white people is contrary to social justice. It is also a factor that holds back the economy, at a time of high demand for educated, skilled employees. A more inclusive economy would be a stronger economy. It would also be a more sustainable economy, leading in turn to a higher quality of life for Ealing’s residents and a stronger demand for good-quality goods and services and a better environment.
Areas where there are higher levels of unemployment are also often areas with poorer-quality housing, lower levels education and skills and poorer health. They also tend to be areas where
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 13 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
infrastructure is poorer, in terms of public transport, road links, the quality and maintenance of buildings and, increasingly importantly, access to high-quality telecommunications.
This strategy expects major development proposals – for instance, in the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor – to be able to demonstrate a significant contribution to increasing social and economic inclusion in Ealing, by contributing to putting in place or upgrading the necessary infrastructure and by working in partnership to improve the provision of education and training, schools and colleges, health facilities and environmental improvements. All of these are important for local residents and existing businesses but are also necessary to ensure the success of new development.
Inclusion and sustainability… Planning authorities should: Promote urban and rural regeneration to improve the well being of communities, improve facilities, promote high quality and safe development and create new opportunities for the people living in those communities. Policies should promote mixed use developments for locations that allow the creation of linkages between different uses and can thereby create more vibrant places.
Provide improved access for all to jobs, health, education, shops, leisure and community facilities, open space, sport and recreation, by ensuring that new development is located where everyone can access services or facilities on foot, bicycle or public transport rather than having to rely on access by car. Planning Policy Statement 1: ‘Delivering Sustainable Development’ (ODPM, March 2005)
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 14 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
2.3 Some key facts about Ealing
Population . The 2003 population of Ealing was estimated at 305,000 in comparison with 285,200 for 1993. . The 2003 working age population (16 to 59/64 year-old) of Ealing was estimated at 206,467 in comparison with 184,100 in 1993. In 2013, the working age population of Ealing is expected to be 221,425. . Over 40% of the population are from minority ethnic communities, including the largest Sikh community in London and a large Muslim community.
Education In education, GCSE A* - C results in Ealing have overtaken England averages and have been improving at a faster rate than England averages over the last 4 years, while the proportion of Ealing's working-age population qualified to at least degree level is higher than in West London, London and England as a whole.
Employment and enterprise . In 2003 there were a total of 115,060 employees in Ealing
. Like London and West London, 68% of Ealing's working age population was economically active at the time of the 2001 census (compared with 67% for England) but increased to 76.6% by 2003. . Totals of full and part time employees show that the greatest number of people employed in Ealing are in the Distribution, Hotels, Restaurant sector.
. Over the past 10 years there has been a 40% rise in the number of employees working in the Distribution, hotels & restaurants sector and a 20% decrease in the numbers working in Manufacturing. . At the end of 2003, there were 9,940 VAT registered businesses in Ealing. This is more per head than in England as a whole, though fewer than in the West London sub-region. . In 2003 there were 44 VAT registrations per 10,000 population in Ealing - the most in 10 years . In 2003, the employment rate for Ealing was 83.5% for white ethnic groups, and for non-white ethnic groups was 59.1%. This gap is more pronounced than in London or England as a whole. . Three wards in Southall and one in Acton have the highest unemployment rates, above 4.5% (ILO classification). . Households in Ealing receiving an average of £37,000 per annum, around the London average and ahead of the national average of £31,000. Health . The people of Ealing have average life expectancy men living to 76 and women to 81. Health inequality is a major issue, since in some Wards men live eight years less and women five years less than in other Wards. . Low air quality and high noise pollution are significant problems.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 15 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
2.4 What is likely to shape Ealing’s economy over the next twenty years?
Heathrow's expansion and modernisation generating demand for goods and services and attracting headquarters activities
External Central London, the City, Canary Wharf: as a Drivers of market and a source of innovation and finance Change 2005
to
2025 World trends in ICT & increasing importance of India and China
Opportunity to attract to Ealing inward investment of national importance, based on Ealing’s internal
advantages and location in West London
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 16 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
3. The Context for the Strategy
3.1 National and London context
The London Development Agency, working with the Mayor and the Greater London Assembly, are in a position both to carry out London-wide research relevant to Ealing’s economy and to put in place policies for implementation.
Some of these policies are determined by the Government’s national policies.
Of particular importance are policies on Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity from the Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly ODPM); policies on neighbourhood renewal, housing modernisation and Local Area Agreements, as well as Planning Policy Statements, including those on Delivering Sustainable Development, Planning for Town Centres, Regional Spatial Strategies, Local Development Frameworks, Renewable Energy, and Planning and Pollution Control. (All of these are available on the ODPM website: www.odpm.gov.uk .)
At the London level, the Mayor’s strategies on economic development, spatial development (the London Plan), transport, waste, air quality have three interlocking themes which are also central to this Strategy:
strong and diverse economic growth;
social inclusivity to allow all Londoners to share in London's future success;
fundamental improvements in environmental management and use of resources.
The Mayor’s London Plan (available at www.london.gov.uk ) establishes the overall spatial development strategy for London. an integrated social, economic and environmental framework for the future development of London, looking forward 15–20 years. The West London boroughs have worked jointly to produce a sub-regional spatial development strategy within the framework this sets out.
The Mayor’s economic development strategy, Sustaining Success: Developing London’s Economy, ‘sets out a plan for the sustainable, equitable and healthy growth and development of London’s economy to 2016’.
Ealing Council and its partners will work closely with the London Development Agency and in accordance with the LDA’s economic development strategy and the Mayor’s London Plan in order to draw on and contribute to the strengths of London as a whole in its national context. London’s economy is huge, dynamic and constantly attracts inward investment. Key London sectors, such as media and business services, spill over into West London to become major sub-regional strengths. Wembley, Park Royal and the BBC and media concentration in White City are sub-regional strengths that are important for London and the UK more widely.
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Key connections between the London Plan and this regeneration Strategy:
The London Plan, 2004, says that London is: How Ealing relates to this:
One of the three world financial centres, Many of Ealing’s businesses operate internationally; this is Europe’s financial capital, and the world’s partly based on the direct links many of Ealing’s residents most economically internationalised city have through their communities’ connections with different countries of origin. The most culturally diverse city in the world Ealing is at least as culturally diverse as anywhere else in London and benefits directly from this. A UK and international centre for the creative Ealing has strengths in aspects of the creative industries – industries and the new knowledge economy film and television and some other media activities. A safe and green city Ealing’s image is, in part, derived from its ‘queen of the suburbs’ title, thought this does not apply to the borough as a whole where further ‘greening’ is necessary. A world centre of academic excellence, Ealing has a large Thames Valley University campus, as providing research and consulting services well as links with Brunel University in particular. internationally A hub of unsurpassed international transport Ealing is close to Heathrow Airport; it also has London’s connections Euroterminal for rail freight services to the rest of Europe through the Channel Tunnel. A city where there is the important advantage Ealing has the additional advantage of a diverse population that its main language, English, is as close to fluent in many other languages, which could be used better an international language as exists in the to strengthen London’s economy. world today.
3.2 West London context The London Plan sets out a sub-regional structure with a set of priorities and a number of ‘areas of intensification’, ‘opportunity areas’, ‘regeneration areas’ and a hierarchy of town centres.
West London is seen as a sub-region in its own right but also part of the ‘Western Wedge’, stretching from Paddington to the Thames Valley. Their key connections are through IT and high-tech sectors, transport links and proximity to Heathrow Airport. Some of strategic priorities for West London (including Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hillingdon and Hounslow) in the London Plan are to:
capture the benefits of the economic generators, including Heathrow, within the sub-region for residents, while ensuring that this development improves not degrades the environment;
realise the potential of Wembley as a nationally and internationally significant sports, leisure and business location, coordinated with town centre regeneration and new housing;
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identify capacity to accommodate new job and housing opportunities and appropriate mixed- use development. This is especially important in relation to the Western Wedge, Heathrow Airport, Opportunity Areas and Areas for Intensification. It will include coordinating skills development, transport and planning to improve access to jobs for people from deprived communities in the sub-region;
maximise the number of additional homes, including affordable housing;
promote and intensify retailing, services, employment, leisure and housing in town centres and opportunities for mixed-use development;
plan for and secure the necessary financial resources to deliver planned transport infrastructure for the sub-region including local schemes that improve public transport, walking and cycling connections to town centres and employment locations.
improve the variety, quality and access to available employment sites, especially within Strategic Employment Locations, to meet the identifiable demands for employment land;
identify areas suitable for tall buildings.
The Mayor’s economic development strategy, Sustaining Success, complements the London Plan. It is based on strengthening the high-value sectors in London. To do this, it proposes:
investment in London’s places and infrastructure;
investment in people;
investment in enterprise;
investment in the marketing and promotion of London.
These investment programmes will be influenced by three cross-cutting themes: sustainability, equality and health, all of which are also important for Ealing.
The specific priorities for West London in the Mayor’s economic development strategy are set out under the theme of investment in London’s places and infrastructure:
to help maintain the success of growth sectors – improving transport linkages, ensuring high quality commercial and residential property availability, improving public services and the natural environment, and supporting the provision of the skilled workforce that is increasingly required;
to link areas of deprivation with employment opportunities through labour market and skills initiatives; to maximise the benefits to the surrounding local communities of the new national stadium at Wembley; and
to support and build on local strengths, such as Southall’s ethnic identity and the economic links to the Indian sub-continent.
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The key market drivers for change for the sub-region include:
Heathrow Terminal 5 and the ‘Heathrow Connect’ rail service, providing many of the benefits of Crossrail at least eight years before Crossrail is implemented;
Southall, described by the LDA as the biggest Asian shopping centre in Europe, and a catalyst for tourism and creative industries in West London;
The decision to hold the Olympics in London in 2012;
The Thames Valley, with Brunel University, for ICT and new technologies;
Developments at Wembley, Park Royal, and White City (which also could be damaging to Ealing by competing with retailing at Ealing Broadway).
LDA West London ‘Partnership Priorities for Action’ (from Understanding London’s Sub- Regional Economies, LDA, 2003); and implications for Ealing LDA Ealing Strengthen the main locations and development Southall, Ealing Centre, Park Royal’s gateways are nodes for international headquarters, gateway potential sites for international HQs and high-tech, functions, manufacturing, high-tech services, and creative, ICT, tourism & leisure. A40/Park Royal/parts tradeable services (creative industries, ICT, of Acton for high-value manufacturing and creative tourism and leisure). industries. Strengthen site availability and premises for Ealing Centre has high-quality sites available; inward investors, indigenous firms, and business starts in services and manufacturing through Southall has unfulfilled potential for attracting inward recycling/redevelopment of site nodes and town investment. centre improvement Park Royal still has many opportunities.
Improve radial and orbital rail and road transport Ealing will benefit from ‘Heathrow Connect’ and from links Crossrail if implemented. Ealing, with other West London boroughs, recognises the need for high-quality orbital links. Increase and improve the housing stock and This is a continuing challenge. It can be met in part supply for the intermediate and lower skill groups from major mixed-use developments. Develop customised training and educational The regeneration partnerships are actively doing this. provision for firms and residents Sub-regionally, commitment needs to be strengthened through the LSC in co-operation with West London Partnership. Address areas of disadvantage through Ealing is doing this in Southall and Acton. Neighbourhood Renewal
Build the West London organisational base and Ealing Council is active in sub-regional partnerships partnerships to include strong private sector and in local regeneration and community leadership to co-ordinate strategy development, partnerships. It sees providing ideas and leadership implementation and evaluation as vital.
Ealing Council and its partners will continue to work at the sub-regional level with the other boroughs in the West London Alliance and with the private and voluntary sectors through the West London Partnership (WLP).
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The West London Economic Development Strategy, produced by the WLP, provides the framework for this Strategy.
Implementation of the WLED’s themes of skills for growth, business competitiveness and transport will benefit particularly from a sub-regional approach but also from some smaller groupings of boroughs. For other themes, sub-regional involvement can bring political support and funding. All themes will require some local action and some cross-borough co-operation.
The West London Sub-Region: from the London Plan:
Some facts about West London
. It is made up of the London boroughs of Ealing, Brent, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. . It has a population of almost 1.5m, growing by 9,000 a year. Of this total, Ealing has 305,000.
. It contributes £27 billion annually to the UK economy. . It employs 750,000 people, 115,060 of them in Ealing. . The number of jobs is increasing by 5,700 a year. . In many sectors, Gross Value Added per Employee is very high in West London. compared with the rest of London. Overall, GVA per employee in West London is 61% above that nationally after allowing for structural differences (compared with Greater London, which has a GVA per employee close to fifty per cent above that of the UK). . West London had a net loss of 76,000 manufacturing jobs from 1980-2000, and now has 65,000 including 13,000 in printing and publishing, out of 308,000 for London including 99,000 in printing and publishing. Employment in food processing is 11,000 out of London’s 27,000, and Ealing is the leading borough for this. . Manufacturing GVA per employee is highest in West London than in all other London sub-regions, and 50% above that of Great Britain. Most of West London’s manufacturing is now capital-intensive. . 35% of West London’s residents are from black and minority ethnic communities.
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The Significance of Heathrow Airport for West London and Ealing
The dominant economic centre in West London is Heathrow Airport. Despite concerns over noise and air quality, Ealing is well placed to draw on the economic benefits of the airport.
Heathrow’s global connections help to attract headquarters of global companies.
Around 68,000 people are employed at the airport and another 110,000 are employed close to the airport because they need to be close to it.
Heathrow has a major impact on the sub-regional economy through its direct demand for goods and services.
A major additional – and often overlooked – benefit arises from Heathrow Airport’s ongoing capital investment programme, which provides contracting opportunities for local firms and employment opportunities for local people.
Capital Investment at Heathrow Airport - BAA, 2005
Actual (£m) Projected (£m – 2005 prices)
2004/05 2005/06 to 2008/09 10 years to 2014/15
Terminals 1-4 360 1,241 3,390
Terminal 5 773 2,065 2,235
Total 1,133 3,301 5,625
Heathrow Airport, therefore, needs to be seen as a driver of business growth in Ealing, as a spur to increasing education and skill levels so that local people can take advantage of the skilled and ‘knowledge sector’ jobs at and around the airport, and as a catalyst for further substantial physical development.
The significance of the Airport has been recognised by the establishment of the Heathrow City Growth area by the DTI and LDA, with the Southall Regeneration Partnership as the local agency responsible for developing the strategy and implementing the projects arising from it.
Some policy implications: what should development in West London and the ‘Western Wedge’ look like? ‘…the competitive spatial development of the Wedge should necessarily be transport-led to demonstrate the viability of alternative, non-car based access modes.’ ‘Within West London, there are very significant brownfield redevelopment opportunities, probably capable of accommodating several hundred thousand jobs.’
‘Overall, the most likely longer term scenario is of a move towards higher density employment developments on brownfield sites with more reliance on a broader range of access modes other than the car, for both policy and capacity reasons. There will be issues, particularly in the Thames Valley, as to the acceptability of this form of development to investors.’
Arup Economics + Planning, The Western Wedge: Final Report (2002)
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Ealing’s Regeneration and themes in the West London Economic Development Strategy
West London Theme 1. Skills for Growth Principles: ‘Skills for Growth’ There is a strong case for this theme to be led at Skill development improves pathways to employment and the sub-regional level, because of the progression within employment; a culture of lifelong dominance of the sub-regional Learning and learning is essential. Skills Council and the pattern of skill needs across the borough boundaries. Training must be accessible for excluded groups.
Skills training needs to be demand led and shaped by Some action still needs to be undertaken at the borough or regeneration partnership level to employers, reflecting the changing skill needs of West reflect specific needs and opportunities. London’s growth sectors and raising the skill levels of those with low skills or basic skills problems.
West London Theme 2. Business Principles: ‘Business Competitiveness’ Competitiveness The sub-region’s ethnic diversity creates both needs (to Again there is a strong case for this theme to be ensure BME residents can access employment) and led at the sub-regional level, because of the opportunities (to maximise the benefits of diversity). dominance of the Business Link for London and because sectoral strengths are mainly sub- Provide a world-class and targeted inward investment
regional. and aftercare service Some action still needs to be undertaken at the Develop the growth and competitiveness of key sub- borough or regeneration partnership level to sectors within knowledge-based industries, especially reflect specific needs and opportunities. In creative industries, tourism and ICT. Ealing, for instance, specialist food processing is Ensure the West London economy benefits to the full more important than in any of the other boroughs, while inward investment in Southall from its cultural and ethnic diversity, harnessing the growth potential of minority ethnic community owned will link to opportunities in Hillingdon and Hounslow rather than elsewhere. businesses through targeted support and development.
West London Theme 3. Land and Property Principles: ‘Land and Property’ The Sub-Regional Development Framework will A single framework for development: sites for mixed use be complemented by frameworks at the borough identified; good design and sustainability; enhance and regeneration partnership levels. existing stock of commercial and industrial buildings and improve transport links. While the WLEDS stresses the importance of common principles, the implementation of these Historic sites preserved; new cultural buildings to create will largely be carried out at the borough level, sense of community. and individual town centres will in part compete with others. Rejuvenation of town centres as mixed-use centres.
West London Theme 4. Housing Principles: ‘Housing’ Sub -regional co-operation is helpful in terms of Encourage a locally-appropriate mix of housing; policy development, lobbying for funding, and a increase supply of affordable housing for rented, key common choice-based approach to lettings worker, shared ownership, supported housing; increase (‘Locata’). ‘intermediate housing.’
Boroughs need to match supply to demand and Promote local employment; promote sustainability; plan appropriate housing in major new promote higher density where appropriate. developments (e.g. Ealing Centre and Southall). Lobby for resources.
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Ealing’s Regeneration and themes in the West London EDS (cont.)
West London Theme 5. Transport Principles: ‘Transport’ The emphasis on public transport and Influence the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. interchange facilities while seeking Meet or exceed Mayor’s targets for capacity of appropriate provision for economic activities public transport. is helpful in terms of preventing competition between boroughs and a consequent Improve orbital links and orbital/radial interchange; lowering of standards. manage access to road use and provide alternatives.
The sub-regional emphasis on orbital links is Benefit from Heathrow economically but without important for Ealing. further environmental damage. Ealing has specific needs and opportunities Support West London Freight Partnership relating to the Heathrow-Paddington corridor and Park Royal’s gateways. Support air quality action plans. Support Crossrail (and later south-west extension); West London Line improvements.
West London Theme 6. Environment and Principles: ‘Environment and Quality of Life’ Quality of Life To attract and retain businesses and skilled workers This theme recognises the economic the sub-region needs to be attractive, safe, healthy importance of a high-quality environment in and liveable. many senses: the business environment but also the physical environment in which Promote Business Improvement Districts and Town people live and work. Centre Partnerships where appropriate.
It notes the relevance of funding on health Support environmental management within and on crime prevention (a specific concern businesses. of many businesses). It highlights connections between good business Support high-quality design and sustainability in management internally and the need to new developments. provide goods and services that support Support high-quality and accessible green spaces. en vironmental sustainability. Support voluntary sector and social enterprises. Many of the actions proposed need to be carried out at the borough or local level.
West London, Ealing and the London Olympics
The West London Alliance with its other West London partners submitted a report in 2004 to the team bidding for the 2012 Olympics. This report considers both the contribution West London could make to ensuring a success of the Olympics and the benefits for residents and businesses in the sub-region.
The report lists the opportunities for businesses to benefit from the greatly increased number of visitors, from the use of sports facilities in the sub-region for pre-Games training and from the arts, entertainment and cultural programme, and for the opportunities for local people to benefit from employment opportunities and from the investment in skills development over the period leading up to the Games.
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The report highlights relevant sectoral strengths in West London, such as media, logistics, food processing and catering, IT software and services, and emphasises the skills and experience among West London’s residents and firms in project design and management; international networking; translation and interpretation; hospitality and tourism; and construction.
Ealing has strengths in these sectors and in these skill areas. Co-operation at the sub-regional level will help to realise the benefits listed. With Heathrow Airport as the point of entry for the majority of teams and visitors, all the opportunities listed in this strategy in relation to the Heathrow-Paddington corridor become even more significant for Ealing’s economic development and wider regeneration.
Relevant sections from West London and London 2012 Our business support offer…
With the lead being taken by Business Link, the Learning and Skills Council, West London Business and the regeneration partnerships, we will use our experience to help businesses in the sub-region to contribute effectively to the Games and to benefit directly from them. We would be willing to be contracted to take the lead on this in other sub-regions in London. We will ensure benefits to the Games and to West London by helping firms to development and maintain the capacity to:
~ bid effectively for contracts to supply goods and services needed to build and equip the Olympic Village and the Olympic venues and to regenerate the sites where these are to be established; ~ bid effectively for contracts to supply goods and services needed during the Games period, for the Olympic Teams but also for the media, for special events and for cultural activities directly associated with the Games; ~ bid effectively for contracts to supply goods and services needed for refurbishing, rebuilding or building new sports facilities in London as part of the promotion of sport and physical exercise between now and 2012;
~ make direct links with the Olympic teams, particularly those based in West London for their period of pre-Games acclimatisation and training;
~ be involved as sponsors but also as contractors in the cultural programme for West London;
~ meet the needs of the huge number of Olympic visitors and tourists more generally, before and during the Games. Our inward investment offer…
We will actively encourage the development of a London-wide marketing, inward investment and export-promotion programme designed to capitalise on the additional attention paid to London because of the Olympics. In particular, we will work with BAA, BA and other key partners to make the most of the opportunity of the high volumes of visitors entering the country through Heathrow by introducing them to the inward investment offer for West London and London generally.
West London Business will lead the West London aspects of this programme, building on its inward- investment experience and its knowledge of the variety of West London’s businesses and the many international links they have already.
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Our training and skills development offer…
In order to meet the huge demand for translators and interpreters needed for the Games and for the long period of organising and preparing beforehand, we will:
~ build on the work already undertaken by the colleges, universities and key firms (such as BAA and BA), and on our existing skills base of hundreds of thousands of foreign-language speakers to develop a comprehensive language skills programme. With the close involvement of the Learning and Skills Council, the colleges and the universities as well as specialist providers, we will seek to raise education and skill levels which are particularly
relevant to the Games, but which also benefit the long-term economic strength of London. In West London, we will specifically concentrate our efforts on areas where we have specialist training centres or centres of excellence which can help to build our skills base but also London’s more widely:
~ Media skills ~ Information and computer technologies ~ Language skills
~ Construction skills
~ Hospitality sector skills ~ Sports and recreation skills
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4. The Strategy’s Four Themes
The four themes are artificial, if necessary, ways of setting out the different elements that will contribute to regeneration in Ealing. Success will come from projects that recognise and take full account of the interdependence of the elements. We set out below both the individual themes and a demonstration of how they are linked together.
4.1 Strategy Theme: Sustainable development of the environment, property and infrastructure
Investment decisions made by both the public sector and the private sector will determine the location, extent, content and quality of physical development in the Borough. These investment decisions will be affected by policy and financial decisions (including decisions about infrastructure, such as Crossrail) and by perceptions of what is happening or likely to happen in the market and how that can be influenced.
Ealing is entering a time when location, decisions about public transport and changes in the global economic balance make it potentially a major focus of investment in new development and in the renewal of formerly developed areas.
4.1.1 The Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor
Ealing’s principal opportunity is in what can be marketed as the Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor.
'M4' Stratford
Southall Ealing Acton Paddington 'City' B-Way M-Line
Heathrow Canary Wharf
Figure 2: The rail corridor through Ealing when Crossrail is implemented, showing the stops most relevant to Ealing’s economic regeneration. ‘Heathrow Connect’ provides a service from Paddington to Ealing Broadway, Southall and Heathrow, bringing some of the Crossrail benefits to Ealing (and Hillingdon, at Hayes) eight years before Crossrail is likely to be completed.
Crossrail, linking Heathrow and the Thames Valley with Central London, the City, Canary Wharf, Stratford and the Thames Gateway, should be in place by around 2013. This will provide Ealing (and Hillingdon, at Hayes) with incomparable public transport connections, with almost instant
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access to Heathrow (the world’s busiest international airport) and fast, frequent, high-capacity services to the other key economic drivers of London.
A decision to proceed with Crossrail will confirm that Ealing is well placed as a target for international inward investment. However, the attractiveness to investors of sites in this corridor is already being enhanced by the ‘Heathrow Connect’ service. A forerunner to Crossrail, this operates from Heathrow Airport to Southall, Hanwell, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Paddington.
‘Heathrow Connect’, in conjunction with existing rail and London Underground services and the prospect of Crossrail, will provide the capacity and the attractiveness to transform at least two town centres on the Heathrow-Paddington axis. The size and range of these developments would allow for retail, hotels, housing, leisure and entertainment but also offices of the kind that can be used by high-tech and 'producer services' companies.
Southall and the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor
At Southall, taking advantage of extensive land over and around the station, the direct link to Heathrow and the established connections between businesses and communities in Southall with South Asia, development could be of national significance. The aim would be to establish Southall as the Gateway to Europe for investment from South Asia.
Transforming Ealing: our intention is…
To establish Southall as the gateway to Europe for investment from South Asia by creating on 60 hectares of brownfield land a high-density, high-quality, public- transport-based development suitable for enterprises in the ‘knowledge
industries’, enhanced by high-quality housing, retail, hotels, leisure and entertainment activities and a particularly ‘green’ environment.
Southall has a large population of Indian origin and many businesses with a distinctively Indian feel to them. It attracts visitors and customers because of this.
At the same time, there is an expressed wish among residents to break away from the perception that it is just a part of the Indian subcontinent in West London.
The challenge for the various partners in Ealing – particularly Southall Regeneration Partnership and Ealing Council – is to encourage the transformation of Southall so that it becomes more clearly part of the mainstream of the UK economy but without losing the qualities that currently make it attractive.
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The economic regeneration strategy proposes a way of doing this by bringing together:
Southall’s transformed transport location - 6 minutes to Heathrow by the new ‘Heathrow Connect’ rail service, with the possibility later of Crossrail;
Southall’s established reputation and international links;
the strong and successful entrepreneurial approach within substantial sections of Southall’s communities;
Southall’s aspirations to break out of its physical and economic isolation;
Southall’s huge areas of potential development land (approximately 60 hectares) adjoining or straddling the railway line;
the opportunities offered particularly by the increased globalisation of firms in South and South-East Asia to attract huge inward investment in IT and related parts of the ‘knowledge industries’ in particular.
Economic activity in Southall
Southall is currently a mix of conflicting economic activities:
large areas of former manufacturing sites which are partially developed,
a major success in the re-use of the former AEC site in Windmill Lane largely for food production;
distribution centres with close economic links to Heathrow Airport;
a town centre that is effectively two town centres, divided by the railway and kept apart by the distance between them; and
huge sites available or potentially available for development.
Together, these features have led Southall Regeneration Partnership (within the Heathrow City Growth strategy) to embark on projects such as ‘Gateway Asia’ that reconsider the type and nature of businesses that could or should be operating in Southall, and to join with the Council in considering the nature and implications of possible development on the larger sites.
At the heart of SRP and the Council’s approach is an implied view that Southall could be a far larger centre of wide-ranging economic activity than it is at present, and that this is a far wider issue than simply attracting relatively traditional industrial or distribution activities on the traditional industrial sites.
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Making the Gateway development happen in Southall The strategy suggests the following steps: 1. A commitment is made to change both the image and the reality of Southall to a modern, knowledge-driven society and economy, linked into the global economy. 2. Southall Regeneration Partnership and Ealing Council, with the LDA, prepare a single masterplan for all the major sites identified for development north and south of the rail corridor, including Southall Station itself (a total of around 60 hectares). 3. With Think London and West London Business, SRP and Ealing Council seek out knowledge- industry firms which can be attracted into Southall on the basis of the quality and location of the development proposed, the existing business connections and the incomparable range of language skills available. 4. SRP and Ealing Council, with the LDA, West London Learning and Skills Council, the Universities and the FE colleges in the sub-region, develop and implement a credible skills strategy that provides access to people from Southall and from the sub-region and more widely in order to ensure there are enough skilled people to make the inward investment offer attractive both to firms and to local people. 5. SRP and Ealing Council, working with the LDA, establish a mechanism to: ensure the acquisition and development of the land in accordance with the masterplan and interest shown by potential occupiers; ensure that the necessary infrastructure (public transport, road links and improvements, telecommunications, gas, water and electricity) are put in place; ensure that wider benefits are obtained for Southall, in terms of education and training, schools and colleges, health facilities, and environmental improvements, all of which will be needed for local residents but also to ensure the success of the new development. 6. SRP and Ealing Council, with incoming developers and investors, prepare and implement a long-term housing improvement programme for Southall, including the opportunity to buy affordable homes, with the aim of bringing to all Southall residents a quality of life and housing that matches that of the new development. 7. There are several models for the implementation mechanism. The new Community Interest Company could be an appropriate legal structure. 8. This Strategy proposes a modified version of the approach and structure adopted by Coin Street Community Builders on London’s South Bank. This is a community development trust which was given control of extremely valuable land with covenants that protected the interests of local communities. It has been responsible for a wide range of successful development that has enhanced a whole area of London while building an asset base that continues to benefit local people.
The Southall Gateway masterplan and the needs of local people The masterplan would pay close attention to the serious concerns of existing Southall residents and businesses over traffic and the problems of the road network and to the need for the amenities in the new development to be genuinely open to people living and working in Southall. Subject to detailed studies, the economic needs and opportunities suggest that around two- thirds of the development capacity should be for economic rather than residential uses. At the same time, mixing of uses would ensure the most effective links between residential and non- residential uses.
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Who will invest? The primary focus of these efforts should be companies from the world-leading Indian IT industry which are seeking to expand globally. The Southall Gateway would be their base for London and the UK and would act as their entry point to the whole of Europe. Firms from elsewhere in Asia but also from other regions would be attracted into what should be a major European centre of excellence. If they incorporate in the EU from their Southall base, they then have the opportunity to establish European joint ventures with access to the EU’s major research and development grants. The adjoining boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow should benefit from the Southall developments, and would have sites (in Hayes, for instance) which could attract linked investment.
Other business opportunities Businesses in Southall and across Ealing will be in a good position to supply goods and services to the new firms and to participate directly in the construction and on-going servicing of the buildings. Southall should become the specialist gateway that offers access to investment and development opportunities in South Asia for businesses from across the EU. This would open up many opportunities to local businesses in Southall but also across Ealing and West London more widely.
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Ealing Metropolitan Centre and the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor
Ealing Centre, stretching from Ealing Broadway to West Ealing, would strengthen its position as one of London’s metropolitan centres and a major generator of employment and wealth for Ealing as a whole.
Transforming Ealing: our intention is…
Through a partnership with major landowners, to ensure the high-quality redevelopment of central Ealing, with a set of landmark buildings and distinctive features that will differentiate central Ealing from other metropolitan centres and draw the maximum benefit from its transport connections.
Ealing Centre (with its own Partnership) has been increasingly recognised as a dominant economic force in the Borough. Transport improvements in the Heathrow-Paddington corridor are greatly enhancing the value for businesses of a location in Ealing Centre.
Ealing Broadway and West Ealing together form one of London’s 10 ‘metropolitan centres’. Ealing Centre Partnership and Ealing Council aim to ensure that Ealing Centre ‘will be renowned within London as a distinctive town centre, an attractive location for investment and a desirable place in which to live, work, shop, study and relax.’ The Business Improvement District scheme is a way to realise this vision.
Ealing Centre currently provides an estimated 13% of jobs in the Borough (10,000 office and 5,000 retail jobs). It is the second biggest retail centre in West London behind Kingston and, with 176,176 square metres of office space, the third biggest West London office centre behind Kingston and Hammersmith.
In economic development terms, Ealing Centre has a number of key advantages:
its existing critical mass of office employment, complementing the retail employment;
its attractive and distinctive environment;
its position as a key public transport hub between Heathrow and Central London.
substantial sites available for large-scale redevelopment (including the Council-owned Dickens Yard), and a willingness by the partners to see another 100,000 square metres of office space developed, with provision for possible landmark buildings.
The Partnership’s detailed comprehensive strategy (available at www.ealing.gov.uk ) aims to ensure the long-term commercial viability of Ealing Centre. It contains a strong commitment to this strategy’s principles of quality (including quality of life), sustainability and social and economic inclusion.
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Acton Main Line and the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor
Development on or around Acton Main Line station as the implementation of Crossrail proceeds could extend the benefits of the corridor more widely in Acton and to Park Royal by enhancing the link to the A40 and the Southern Gateway.
Benefits arising from development in the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor
The development opportunities arising in Southall and Ealing Centre in particular are on such a scale that dramatic benefits arising from them would underpin the local economy and would contribute to a substantial improvement in the physical environment and the quality of life of people living and working in Ealing.
The Challenge for development in the Heathrow-Paddington Sustainable Growth Corridor
The challenge is to ensure that high-quality development takes place which meets the highest sustainability standards for construction; that physical development in the Corridor goes hand-in-hand with business development; that there is a suitable mix of economic and other activities; that education and skill levels locally match the needs of the changing economic activities; and that orbital public transport links improve access to the key activity centres in the Corridor. While all of these elements are challenging, the inadequacies of the orbital public transport services stand out as critical in terms of providing opportunities
to transform the lives of residents in the most remote and isolated parts of the Borough.
4.1.2 Park Royal and the A40 Corridor
Transforming Ealing: our intention is…
To strengthen the north of the Borough by encouraging the growth of modern, flexible companies in the A40 corridor, building on Ealing’s traditional strength in supplying and servicing of other businesses at Heathrow Airport, in Central London and in the Thames Valley, resulting in the redevelopment of at least 20 hectares of brownfield land.
Park Royal
Park Royal Partnership’s ten-year strategy is available at www.parkroyal.org . Park Royal Partnership has focused attention on building a mixed-use centre at its centre, a high-quality business park at its Western Gateway and another mixed-use centre at the Southern Gateway by North Acton station and the A40.
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Despite PRP’s efforts, transforming public transport to the centre of Park Royal appears to be an intractable problem, undermining efforts to raise the quality and density of development. Issues of transport and the quality of the environment remain at the top of concerns among existing firms.
The prospect of a Crossrail station at Acton Main Line, with associated development, raises the possibility that earlier ideas of a high-capacity link from Acton to Wembley via the centre of Park Royal and Central Middlesex Hospital might now become feasible.
There are other areas of PRP’s work where sustainable development of the environment, property and infrastructure is also important for the theme of promoting the sustainable growth of businesses and jobs:
PRP sees media and film activities as having a vital role to play in regenerating Park Royal as a modern, active area with a high number and wide range of jobs. Media firms are deterred, however, by poor-quality environments and buildings and by monolithic warehousing centres.
Park Royal still provides manufacturing firms with a base, particularly for food processing. Some of these are capital-intensive with few, but often skilled, jobs. Others are in modern buildings but labour-intensive and are vulnerable because of shortages of labour for low- wage jobs. Still others are start-up firms that develop new markets in London and that are then bought up by larger companies which tend to move the production facilities out of London. The quality of development and its accessibility remain important contributors to firms remaining and growing in Park Royal.
The challenge in relation to Park Royal
The Council needs to ensure its policies and actions are in line with the
accepted link between the quality of physical development, infrastructure and the environment on one hand and the quality and appropriateness of inward investment and re-investment as a result of growth on the other. The Council needs to: help Park Royal Partnership transform transport links through the centre in order to attract higher-value uses and implement the vision for ‘Park Royal Centre’; ensure there is a reduction in crime (seen by businesses as a major
environmental issue); ensure it provides a high-quality service to Park Royal firms in relation to planning, transport and environmental issues;
make an effective link between the opportunities arising in Southall and elsewhere in the Heathrow-Paddington corridor and the opportunities for high- quality investment in Park Royal (for instance, at ‘First Central’, in Park Royal Centre and at the other gateways; ensure that development at Acton Main Line benefits Park Royal;
support Park Royal Partnership in its discussions over future project and core funding from the LDA.
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The A40 corridor
Ealing has the greatest area of factory floorspace (687,000 sq m or 25%) and the greatest amount of warehouse floorspace (1,550,000 sq m or 30.3%) of any borough in West London, a total floorspace of 2,237,000 sq m (28.5% of the total in West London).
Much of this is in the A40 corridor and, according to the GLA, the strongest demand for industrial and warehousing floorspace in West London is currently along the A40 extending from Acton out to Uxbridge. In Ealing, demand is particularly strong around North Acton, Park Royal, Perivale, Greenford and Northolt.
The part of this in Park Royal is covered by the Park Royal Strategy. However, elsewhere in Ealing’s part of the A40 corridor, public sector resources are not available to make any concerted effort to influence the market except through highways, environmental and planning policies. Despite this, the strategy’s principles of quality, sustainability and inclusion should be firmly pursued. The Council’s efforts to establish a mixed development in Greenford Green reflect these principles.
The operation of the market in Perivale, Greenford and Northolt has had mixed results. Some of the industrial estates are relatively modern and well-managed. Others are of a poor standard, some have access difficulties and some are hardly maintained at all.
The West London Economic Development Strategy has a commitment to supporting the West London Freight Partnership. Ealing could seek, through this and with LDA support, to develop a pilot project for ‘intelligent logistics’ with a remit to find more sustainable ways of supply chain management and of distributing goods in a dense urban environment such as London.
There is an example of this approach in Zaragoza in Spain, and of a different approach in Berlin which prevents large lorries entering a large area in the city. A pilot project or Centre of Logistics Excellence based in the A40 corridor, looking towards Heathrow, Central London, and Oxford, could test new ideas in co-operation with major logistics operators and with a university with an appropriate specialisation, such as Imperial College.
New approaches to logistics: learning from Zaragoza Zaragoza is located between Madrid and Barcelona. Best known as the home of General Motors massive Opel Espana plant, Zaragoza is trying to reinvent itself as a transportation and distribution hub for south-western Europe.
Seventy companies have already rented space within Plaza, and the park will create 7,000 jobs. Some of these jobs will go to graduates from the Zaragoza Logistics Centre (ZLOG), a research laboratory and study facility being built inside Plaza for students of the Unversidad de Zaragoza, and the International Logistics Programme of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Central to this plan is a high-technology, 12m square metre logistics park known as Plaza ~ Europe's biggest(…) Once completed it will be a dry port, complete with Spanish customs and revamped rail haulage links to the ports of Barcelona, Valencia and Santander. There are also plans to connect it to the local airport ~ recently upgraded to handle international traffic around the clock.
Financial Times 14.3.05 The globalisation of products and delivery systems demands more expertise in supply chain management. Modern logisticians are less concerned with day- Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 35 to-day transportation, inventory and warehousing and more involved in forecasting, marketing, problem solving and systems design and analysis Financial Times 14.3.2005. Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
4.1.3 Protecting and developing Ealing’s town centres
Ealing’s town centres are important concentrations of economic, social and cultural activities. The Council has drawn up programmes aimed at bringing in new physical development and a range of business activities in the different town centres outside the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor (Acton, Greenford, Northolt, Park Royal) and in Hanwell, which has not yet benefited from its location in the Corridor.
The town centres perform different functions, but all are important for Ealing’s residents living near or around them, providing a focal point with which people identify and which helps to structure their activities. It is important, therefore, that they remain varied and viable economically in order to fulfil their wider social and cultural functions.
Thriving local town centres also make a contribution to environmental sustainability, reducing the need for journeys to more distant centres and increasing the number of journeys made on foot.
Transport and the town centres
Access to the different town centres by public transport is important in making them economically viable but also in reducing social isolation and the potential for exclusion. The main town centres in the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor (Ealing and Southall) have the potential, as noted above, for accommodating substantial new development. They will be focal points for the whole of the Borough. For them to open up opportunities for residents who are not close to the main London Underground or rail services, there is a need for creative thinking about radical improvements to the bus-based orbital services to ensure these are fast, frequent, reliable, attractive and comprehensive.
Acton Town Centre: an example of an approach to regeneration Acton has a relatively small town centre and an appears to provide very little local employment. economically important but scattered set of Over time, substantial redevelopment is likely to commercial, industrial and distribution activities. be essential. This needs to be more compatible The Council is taking the lead in seeking the with the mainly residential nature of the area. redevelopment of major sites, including the The redevelopment of South Acton estate has Town Hall and the associated leisure complex, the potential to transform the quality of life of and the Safeway site. residents in that area but also to have an impact In the Vale, older but solid multi-storey buildings on businesses and on the Town Centre itself. in particular are being converted into complexes The full potential will be realised only if there is a for a variety of firms, many of them in media. conscious, structured effort to make the This matches the aspirations of Action Acton connections. (the local regeneration agency), including the Transport and access problems continue to desire to establish a more mixed town centre undermine efforts to make significant changes in with an emphasis on media, leisure and Acton. Rail and underground services to the entertainment as well as retail. Town Centre (and the industrial areas) are The industrial estate in South Acton is isolated relatively poor and the transport services do not and generally of poor quality. It is undermined by connect up effectively. The possible the unattractiveness of the current concentration development of Acton Main Line needs to be of social housing in South Acton but also used to help Acton as a whole. contributes to this housing’s unattractiveness. It
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4.2 Strategy Theme: Sustainable growth of businesses and jobs
4.2.1 Business Support in Ealing: the present position
Ealing-specific business advice and support is currently available to firms in Southall through Southall Regeneration Partnership and in Park Royal through Park Royal Partnership and parts of Acton through Action Acton and Park Royal Partnership.
Groundwork West London provides environmental performance support for small and medium-sized businesses. Southall Regeneration Partnership provides business support services for the Heathrow City Growth area (extending into Hillingdon and Hounslow) and Business Link for London start-up and micro business services for the boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow.
If businesses vote to establish ‘Business Improvement Districts’, as they have done in Ealing Broadway, more resources will be available locally to strengthen businesses and improve their operating environment.
Although business support in Ealing is currently provided in an uncoordinated way through the separate regeneration partnerships, this does not mean it is badly provided. However, it does mean that large areas of the borough miss out on this Ealing-specific support and certainly on direct financial support that may be available in the partnership areas.
West London Business organises events that are open to businesses across the sub-region. Similarly, the London West Learning and Skills Council supports businesses in a variety of ways: through the Investors in People standard, for instance, as well as other workforce development programmes.
Business Link for London offers a wide range of business support, through advisers, events (some of which are free), publications, or through its extensive website (www.businesslink4london.com). It offers sector support to the ‘Creative Industries’, which it defines as businesses whose products or services have their roots in individual creativity, skill and talent. In this it includes Fashion and Accessories; Music and Audio Visual; Interior and Product Design; and Graphic and Web Media. Ealing has businesses in all of these sub-sectors which could benefit from this support.
Support specifically for black or minority ethnic entrepreneurs and managers is an area with fragmented provision but where Business Link and the Department for Trade and Industry aim to see improvements.
Similarly there is strong policy support for the development of ‘social enterprises’ and for contracting with the voluntary sector to provide local services. Although these are approaches that tend to be labour-intensive to promote and develop and that can involve a degree of self- exploitation on the part of entrepreneurs or groups co-operatively seeking to establish themselves, there are examples of successes already in Ealing.
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Social enterprises can now register as Community Interest Companies (CICs). CICs are limited companies with special additional features created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage. This is achieved by a "community interest test" and "asset lock", which ensure that the CIC is established for community purposes and that the assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes.
ECT: A local social enterprise – a national success ECT Group was set up originally as ‘Ealing Community Transport’. ‘ECT is a fast growing, diverse social enterprise running high quality, value-for-money, community- driven services including streetcare, waste and recycling, public transport, community rail and health services. As a social enterprise, ECT operates to a triple bottom line of financial, social and environmental objectives.’ (www.ectgroup.co.uk ) ECT is now registered as a Community Interest Company.
Its turnover for 2004/05 was £29,188,000, and it had more than 600 employees. (ECT Annual Reports) ECT still has its head offices in Acton.
4.2.2 Growth sectors: promoting indigenous growth and inward investment
Ealing is already well represented in sectors that are among the strengths of West London, some of which are based on the proximity of Heathrow Airport. In a number of these, including modern manufacturing and food processing, it is the leading borough.
However, Ealing’s future economic progress depends increasingly on the growth of innovative businesses based in the knowledge sectors. Support for these will require a detailed knowledge of the sectors as well as the development of skills among Ealing’s residents to meet the challenges arising from these sectors.
This strategy identifies sectors where global developments and strong local advantages provide the possibility of substantial long-term growth. These include ICT (where West London already has a leading position in the UK), film and television, and elements of the creative and media industries (including some that are inextricably bound up with the developments in the ICT sector. Additionally, Ealing already has a small but, in London terms, significant pharmaceutical / biotech grouping of firms; globally, this is a sector with enormous potential.
Detailed research will need to be undertaken into these as part of the Southall project, but the potential benefits will spread much wider than Southall.
Other sectors to be specifically supported are a number where Ealing has existing strengths: logistics; printing and publishing; tourism; education and training, as a sector in its own right.
An additional aspiration, needing further research, is to develop businesses in the ‘green’ technologies and services sector.
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Working with the LDA and Business Link as well as West London Business to support and promote these sectors will allow Ealing to take advantage of the strengths of the wider West London sub-region. West London has the UK’s largest concentration of IT activity (with the top ten IT firms globally all represented in West London), has the top logistics firms and remains an important centre for modern manufacturing (including food processing).
The City Growth areas of Heathrow and Park Royal/Wembley/White City have resources to concentrate on these growth sectors.
The established strengths in the growth sectors also provides the basis of attracting inward investment. Making the major development sites available and positively seeking out occupiers in the growth sectors can help to make a reality of the proposals in the Heathrow-Paddington Corridor as well as in Park Royal and along the A40.
4.2.3 Promoting the enterprise culture among under-represented groups
Ealing’s Local Economic Growth Initiative (LEGI) proposal (prepared jointly with Hammersmith & Fulham) highlighted problems facing people and communities currently under-represented as owners of businesses:
A lack of understanding and experience in Neighbourhood Renewal areas of how to establish and run a successful business within the regulatory framework.
Poor take-up of mainstream business support by priority groups.
Fragmented supply-chains resulting in limited market opportunities for local people in key growth sectors: media, food, hospitality and retail.
Problems of sustainability and managing succession in town centre businesses.
Absence of adequate, affordable incubator and growth business spaces and start-up equipment and technology.
Shortage of affordable childcare; and aids and adaptations for disabled entrepreneurs.
The approach to deal with this was to move people from ‘Access to Enterprise’ to ‘Growth and Sustainability’. Supported by ‘Establishing the Infrastructure’, these themes would maximise the opportunities for entrepreneurship. The proposal said:
Through Access to Enterprise we will help priority groups to develop the skills to establish businesses. Drawing them in through imaginative outreach work, we will ensure they have the necessary understanding, experience, and access to advice, skills, equipment, finance and premises.
Through Growth and Sustainability we will support established businesses facing barriers to further growth and those in the growth sectors.
Through childcare support, specific help for disabled people, and our ‘Crucial Mix’ activities we will provide the conditions in which business and investment can flourish. (Hammersmith & Fulham / Ealing LEGI proposal, 2005)
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This approach remains valid and is, in part, being adopted through the activities of the regeneration partnerships. For it to be implemented fully in a way which benefits more of Ealing’s priority areas, more resources will need to be obtained.
In the meantime, the Council can help by opening up its tendering processes to small businesses, and by encouraging other public sector partners, such as the NHS and the education sector, to increase local employment through local procurement.
4.2.4 What the Council can do to support local businesses
Ealing Council will work with businesses already operating in the Borough as well as incoming businesses to:
enable local businesses to expand as part of major developments, or to become suppliers of goods and services to the developers themselves and to new firms moving into Ealing;
strengthen the principal growth sectors in the borough;
provide efficient Planning services that ensure appropriate and good-quality development is facilitated and that business expansion or development is not unnecessarily delayed;
respond rapidly to businesses’ needs for the Council’s Environmental services;
provide easy access to information about both the Council’s services and external sources of business advice and support;
ensure Ealing businesses are able to take advantage of business-support initiatives taking place at the West London level;
develop ‘e-procurement’ opportunities for local businesses: opportunities to use online access to supply goods and services to the Council and other public authorities as well as to private sector customers;
ensure that businesses arising out of Ealing’s black and minority ethnic communities encounter no unnecessary barriers to development and growth and that they are equally able to take advantage of all opportunities open to Ealing’s businesses;
ensure there is an effective partnership between Jobcentre Plus, the Council and all relevant partners to reduce problems of recruitment for local businesses;
ensure that transport and access improvements take into account the needs of Ealing’s businesses;
provide a high-quality physical environment which attracts businesses to Ealing and encourages existing businesses to stay and expand.
identify the need for further infrastructure upgrading and ways of implementing this, with telecommunications as a priority.
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4.3 Strategy Theme: People – education, skills and economic inclusion
Transforming Ealing: our intention is…
To increase the economic activity rate in Ealing from 72.8 % to 75% and to ensure that in no wards, compared with the present 19, do more than 20% of households have an annual income lower than the fifth statistical band (currently £20,000-£25,000).
To work with the Learning and Skills Council to develop a credible skills strategy
that increases the proportion of residents of working age qualified at Level 3 or above from 49% to 60%; and those at Level 4 and above from 35.2% to 45%, in
order to support a high-skill, high-wage economy.
A vital way of ensuring inclusion is to enable people to participate fully in the economy. This involves action under the themes listed above, but also specific action to ensure people have the necessary education and skills and are helped to overcome other obstacles facing particular groups or communities.
The number of jobs available across the West London sub-region is not matched by the supply of suitably educated or skilled people seeking employment. At the same time, Ealing has a relatively small but still significant number of people seeking but not obtaining employment.
Ealing’s black and minority ethnic communities are over-represented among those remaining unemployed, though young white 16 to 18-year-olds are twice as likely as other ethnic groups to be not in education, employment or training.
Heathrow Airport continues to have many lower-skill jobs, but demand from inward investment and business expansion will increasingly be for employees with higher-level skills.
This Strategy recommends action to:
work at a West London level (in which the Learning and Skills Council should be centrally involved) to ensure that an effective and well-funded training strategy is in place to meet the needs of the knowledge sectors as well as other specialist sectors;
ensure priority for intensive ICT training throughout Ealing, with the prospect of rapidly moving from basic to higher levels;
ensure that the language skills in Ealing are recognised as a valuable asset and are increasingly used to overcome economic exclusion;
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ensure that the training strategy helps people without qualifications or with unrecognised qualifications (such as refugees) to gain the skills and recognition necessary to enter and progress in employment;
ensure that people with disabilities similarly have their skills recognised and that appropriate adaptations are made that enable them to enter employment;
ensure that training within employment is widespread and employer-led;
work with Jobcentre Plus and the regeneration partnerships to ensure that support is available for people needing individual help, including advice and guidance, pre- employability training, language training, mentoring, work experience, further support with childcare, as well as occupational training;
drawing on the experience of the regeneration partnerships, help existing employers and new firms in the major new developments, as well as the development and construction companies themselves, to put systems in place for supporting local training, recruitment and progression;
use Park Royal Partnership’s Corporate Social Responsibility approach as an economic and social inclusion model for businesses elsewhere in the borough and for new investors in Ealing;
use Neighbourhood Renewal Funding to ensure there is specific provision for training and recruitment initiatives in Southall and South Acton;
maintain close links with the voluntary and community sector through Ealing Community Network (ECN), Ealing Community and Voluntary Service (ECVS) and West London Network of voluntary and community services for work that provides community-based action on training and economic inclusion.
Action on disabilities and employment
In line with government policy, Jobcentre Plus offers special help (including financial incentives) for hard-to-reach or hard-to-help clients and client groups. In Ealing, this category particularly includes people receiving disability- or health-related benefits but wanting to work, as well lone parents.
The voluntary New Deal for Disabled People provides, through a your Job Broker, support in preparing for and finding work. This can include:
matching skills and abilities to the needs of employers
identifying training needs and then working with local training providers to help provide these;
help through the process of applying for jobs; and
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support during the first six months in work.
In Ealing Council, the Mental Health, Physical and Learning Disability Partnership Boards have recently agreed that one of their priorities should be the promotion of employment opportunities across the community. The Health and Well-being Board will be asked to support the development of specialist service employment strategies, which should then be integrated into this Regeneration Strategy.
An example of Ealing’s work:
A local action plan is being developed for Learning Disabilities Services. This sets out the priorities and developments needed to promote employment opportunities. An Employment Sub-Group has been established to steer and monitor the progress. The local action plan for learning disabilities complements Ealing’s plans to modernise day services and focuses on 4 key areas:
Staff development Transition Improving Job Choices Sustaining employment
The employment sub-group will investigate training and development around supported employment, b enefits and induction to maximise job-coaching skills. There will be a focus on adopting a more co-ordinated approach to job search by introducing inter-agency job brokerage. This will avoid duplication of work, increase efficiency and provide the opportunity to share good practice.
A priority for this year will to capture accurate data relating to both paid and unpaid employment to allow us to measure the success of the strategy and monitor progress towards the targets set in the action plan. This data will enable us to target people in employment so that we can offer support groups and facilitate peer supervision to sustain employment and promote career progression. There will be a focus on developing partnerships with local employers who are willing to offer work experience placements to people who have limited or no previous work experience. This should include employers such as Ealing Council, PCT and their contractors.
Learning Curve, Ealing Council’s training and employment centre, provides support and training to enable disabled adults to access employment and further education. It is developing a partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service and Royal Mail to offer work experience programmes and employment.
Community Cohesion and inclusion: employment and recruitment issues
For eighteen months in 2003-2004, Ealing participated in the West London Community Cohesion Pathfinder.
This carried out a wide range of activities, including workshops, projects and publications, designed to test new methods of developing social cohesion and community participation across a wide range of communities and to analyse the factors that contribute to maintaining cohesion.
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One of the activities related to this strategy was an employment and recruitment project. The Final Report on the Pathfinder described the approach adopted:
Employment and recruitment project A working group of regeneration practitioners has put together a good practice guide on local recruitment. This is designed to encourage and assist local employers to set up schemes to make employment opportunities available for local people and to help community organisations set up schemes for local people to move into work. Participants at the Workshop on 15.6.04 stressed the importance of: making it simple for employers and individuals to take part; finding ways of encouraging employers to create entry level jobs from which there are clear
progression routes. Representatives from the community and voluntary sector stressed that from their work they had learnt that it was important when working with refugees to consider additional issues if clients are to be well enough prepared and able to succeed in their new jobs. In particular, even well educated refugees need support to: master English to a high enough standard to work effectively; convert qualifications;
find a means of helping refugees gain a UK work history and references through volunteering etc; better understand British work culture. ‘Bringing Communities Closer’, A report on the work of the West London Community Cohesion Pathfinder, West London Alliance, 2004
Ealing is continuing to work with the WLA and the voluntary and community sector on issues raised by the Community Cohesion Pathfinder. The Ealing Implementation Group will maintain links with the officers involved and with Ealing Community and Voluntary Service so that the issues of inclusion are taken seriously over the medium term.
Language skills as a way to increase inclusion
London West LSC recently carried out a language audit of Heathrow Airport. This highlighted the huge range of languages spoken by staff at the airport, a constant need for these languages to be used, and a lack of clear opportunities for speakers of languages other than English to use these languages for the benefit of the airport.
The LSC is implementing recommendations where it has control over them and encouraging partners to implement others that concern them. LSC actions include promoting the benefits of linguistic skills among local schools, colleges and other education providers; working with employers to develop training in the management of a multi lingual/multicultural workforce; building on the interest of staff by providing a range of language classes on the airport premises; facilitating the development of training techniques that are less dependent on written and spoken English; and reviewing the delivery of ESOL provision to maximise effectiveness.
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Similarly, the LSC, in a study of the learning and training needs of women refugees from Central and Eastern Europe who wished to enter work, the issue of languages was shown to be very important. The LSC report says that although many of these women spoke good English, they were unable to prove their language skills because English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses – the easiest way – were heavily over-subscribed and there was a lack of other routes or any proper indication of which of those other routes would be acceptable. The study recommended the wider availability of shorter, faster language courses.
‘Among the other recommendations were increased publicity of the process for recognising overseas qualifications and improved dissemination of employment opportunities, perhaps using community groups. The research findings, launched in February, also recommended increased awareness among frontline staff in job centres and employment agencies of the importance of recognizing skills and qualifications of overseas residents (there is evidence that this process has already begun).’ London West Learning and Skills Council, 2005
Language skills are in demand not just at Heathrow but also in many firms in West London that are involved in international trade. This provides an opportunity for local people to enter and remain in employment, provided the necessary training is available for them to make use of their language skills in employment. The availability of these language skills should be a major part of Ealing’s offer to inward investors, again provided the necessary training is in place.
The West London Alliance, working with its business and voluntary sector partners, has also drawn attention to the importance of West London’s languages for the Olympics in London and to the many opportunities that could arise for people from West London with language skills.
Action across the LSP on inclusion and reducing inequalities
The draft Community Strategy notes that ‘The general prosperity of the borough is not, however, universally shared amongst our communities. Poor standards of health and education, low household incomes and high benefits dependency are all focussed in many of the borough’s poorer areas and amongst particular communities.’
The Improvement Plan (2005) for the LSP sets out priorities for meeting ‘floor targets’ in key areas in order to overcome these identified problems:
Area for action Priority Employment and Increase employment rates amongst lone parents, ethnic minorities and in wards Enterprise with the lowest labour market position Education Improve achievement at Key Stage 2 in English and Maths and Key Stage 3 in Science Crime Reduce crime particularly in high-crime areas Housing Achieve Decent Homes standard by 2010 Health Reduce health inequalities and increase life expectancy particularly amongst vulnerable groups Liveability Achieve litter/detritus target and increase resident satisfaction with parks and open spaces
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Action under this strategy links closely with action taken by other LSP partners in order to meet the floor targets and to achieve the measurable outcomes listed in the Community Strategy.
An area of action of particular importance to parts of the Borough where the benefits of prosperity are not fully shared is transport. As noted elsewhere in the Strategy, high-quality public transport can make opportunities accessible and open up benefits to people from isolated areas. In particular, in Ealing there is a need for improved orbital transport to increase people’s chances of participating fully in the economy and society.
Co-operating on a sub-regional basis through the West London Partnership will significantly improve Ealing’s chances of putting in place the necessary orbital transport services.
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4.4 Strategy Theme: Management and Resources
4.4.1 Management structures
This strategy includes dramatic and ambitious proposals. This level of ambition is reflected in the commitment of the Council and its partners to effective and efficient implementation of the strategy.
The current implementation structure is necessarily complex, given the wide-ranging activities this strategy requires and the links between them.
The Ealing Local Strategic Partnership, with its various lead agencies for different activities, is vital for ensuring a working partnership at the top and for keeping an overview of activities that flow from the Community Strategy, Success Through Diversity.
In accordance with the LSP’s Improvement Plan (2005) the ‘Economy’ theme in the Community Strategy, and therefore this economic regeneration strategy, will be overseen by the Economic Development Sub-Group. Additionally, an Employment & Skills Working Group will bring together JobCentre Plus, Ealing Refugee Forum, the Regeneration partnerships, Ealing Community Network, the Pre-school Learning Alliance, Sure Start, deliverers of employment and skills programmes, Registered Social Landlords and the West London Alliance.
However, other themes in the Community Strategy are also important for the achievement of the ambitious aims of the Economic Regeneration Strategy. The LSP has an important role to play in ensuring there is awareness across the different themes of the way they interrelate and that this is reflected in the separate activities undertaken.
For instance, the targets for Environment, Housing and Culture include £300 million of new investment in housing. Local firms need to be able to benefit from this as contractors and suppliers of goods and services. Local people need to be able to take advantage of the employment opportunities that are the direct and indirect result of this investment.
Similarly, the targets for Crime are relevant to businesses concerned about crimes against businesses and their staff and visitors; targets for Children and Young People should lead to a better-educated population, with young people having both the skills and the attitude that enable them to participate in employment in the changing economy; and reducing health inequality is important for raising economic activity rates.
Within the Council, the Business and Community Development Director has direct responsibility for ensuring many of the activities proposed by this Strategy are implemented. The Business and Community Development Director works beneath the Regeneration and Major Projects Board, chaired by the Chief Executive.
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This Board pulls together and monitors the progress of projects across a wide range of activities:
Strategic Planning Housing Streets Project Performance Summary Decent Homes Programme Streets PFI Local Development Framework South Acton Estate Transport Economic Development Strategy Green Man, Vale, Copley,, High Crossrail Lane, Golf Links, Havelock, Rectory Town Centre Strategies Education Heathrow Terminal 5 External Funding & S106 Education PFI (existing) Asset management Building Schools for the Future Private Development Sites Strategic Property and Area Social Services Southall Gas Site Property Strategies Dickens Yard Social Services PFI Other Major Dev. Sites & S106 (potential) Leisure Northolt Swimarama Northala Fields
In line with the themes in this strategy, it would be helpful to add the following to this list:
Transport Private Development Sites Orbital services to Southall Southall Gas Site and linked and adjacent sites Orbital services to Ealing Broadway around the railway and Southall Station as Acton-Park Royal -Wembley identified in LDF
4.4.2 Powers and resources
Obtaining the necessary powers and resources will be central to implementation. The resources will often be in the form of private sector investment which the Council and its partners have facilitated. Facilitating can involve anything from helping to locate sites and providing useful information to working actively to overcome market failure that has led to a lack of private sector investment. For instance, assembling difficult sites so that a single site is available for development can be a way of overcoming market failure.
The powers and resources of the public sector will also need to be brought to bear directly in some cases. This will involve collaboration with, for instance, the Learning and Skills Council, or with the London Development Agency. There may be a need for a ‘special purpose vehicle’ to take forward the proposals for Southall in order to ensure maximum investment and business success as well as maximum benefit for Ealing and its residents.
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5. Opportunities, themes, projects and how they interrelate
5.1 Heathrow-Paddington Corridor Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses Education, skills & inclusion Management and Resources Which of 6 key infrastructure and jobs achievements? 1. Gateway for investment Southall as the gateway to Southall as the gateway to Europe Southall as the gateway to Southall as the gateway to from South Asia Europe for investment from for investment from South Asia Europe for investment from Europe for investment from South Asia South Asia South Asia 4. Increase economic 6. Through implementation activity rate 1. Develop masterplan mechanism, establish firms in 9. Develop and resource skills 12. Make a commitment to 5. Raise skill levels 2. Establish implementation knowledge industries in the South strategy to provide access and change the image and 6. Town centres mechanism and 10-year plan Asia Gateway by attracting to ensure enough skilled people reality of Southall to a for Gateway inward investment from South to make the inward investment modern, knowledge-driven Asia and supporting local offer attractive both to firms society and economy, 3. Make land available to business development. and to local people. linked into the global establish Southall as economy. destination for investment 7. Apply ‘southall.it’ branding. 10. Ensure planning agreements / S106 obtain wider benefits for 13. Establish a mechanism to 8. Support Southall and other Ealing 4. Ensure commitments to road Southall, in terms of education implement the project, businesses so they can provide and public transport and other and training, schools and with the involvement of goods and services to larger firms infrastructure. colleges, housing, health Southall Regeneration in the Gateway. 5. Develop plans for orbital facilities and environmental Partnership. public transport service improvements. improvements. 11. Use the investment programme as a means to upgrade housing across Southall 2. Redevelopment of Distinctive redevelopment of Distinctive redevelopment of Distinctive redevelopment of Distinctive redevelopment of Central Ealing Central Ealing Central Ealing Central Ealing Central Ealing 4. Increase economic 14. Ensure appropriate 18. Inward investment strategy for 21. Skills training linked to 24. Provide strategic lead activity rate development of major sites Ealing Centre emerging job opportunities 25. Manage relations with 5. Raise skill levels 15. Implement Business 19. Marketing and inward investment 22. Training and recruitment for private sector 6. Town centres Improvement District support Council employment 26. Support BID projects 16. Raise quality of public realm 20. Promotion of media sector 23. Film/television/media sector 27. Strengthen links with 17. Redevelopment of station with training and recruitment Network Rail / TfL to provision for Crossrail improve transport links
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Heathrow-Paddington Corridor (continued) Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses Education, skills & inclusion Management and Resources Which of 6 key infrastructure and jobs achievements? Development at Acton Main Development at Acton Main Line Development at Acton Main Line Development at Acton Main 3. Park Royal / A40 Line based on Crossrail based on Crossrail based on Crossrail Line based on Crossrail Corridor (in part) 28. Acton Main Line development 31. Business growth plan to be and investment study, in developed in line with conjunction with Crossrail development and investment timetable study 29. Make link with Park Royal Southern Gateway 30. Use to promote orbital transport improvements from Acton to Wembley via Park Royal
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5.2 Growth of new and incoming businesses Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses and jobs Education, skills & Management and Which of 6 key infrastructure inclusion Resources achievements? 1. Gateway for investment Southall as the gateway to Southall as the gateway to Europe for investment Southall as the gateway to Southall as the from South Asia Europe for investment from from South Asia Europe for investment gateway to Europe for South Asia from South Asia investment from 4. Increase economic activity rate South Asia 5. Raise skill levels As above As above As above As above 6. Town centres 2. Redevelopment of Distinctive redevelopment Distinctive redevelopment of Central Ealing Distinctive redevelopment Distinctive Central Ealing of Central Ealing As above of Central Ealing redevelopment of Central Ealing 4. Increase economic As above As above activity rate As above 5. Raise skill levels 6. Town centres 32. Economic regeneration 34. ICT and other ‘knowledge industries’ study 44. Film/television/media 47. High quality of 1. Gateway for investment infrastructure action plan sector training for local services to from South Asia 35. Other sector and technical studies produced to 2. Redevelopment of produced. support competitiveness and inward investment people businesses provided by Council Central Ealing 33. Local authority property 45. Partnership with 3. Park Royal/A40 corridor 36. Joint marketing of areas for ICT/knowledge (planning, strategies designed to Jobcentre Plus to open (part) industries environmental support local economic up recruitment 4. Increase economic development and to link 37. Start-up ICT centre in Southall opportunities health, activity rate procurement) with sector and corridor 38. ‘Sustainable logistics’ plan for A40 corridor 46. Apply PRP’s corporate 5. Raise skill levels 6. Town centres growth strategies 39. Key clusters plan: activities to foster and market social responsibility them model across the 40. Borough-wide framework to support ‘green’ firms borough and ‘greening’ of existing firms 41. Processes agreed to co-ordinate and simplify support for small and micro businesses, with specific support for BMER communities, with training to supply public sector 42. Process agreed for linking micro firms to mentors in larger firms 43. Framework to encourage local development of the independent sector through social enterprises
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5.3 Park Royal/A40 corridor Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses Education, skills & inclusion Management and Resources Which of 6 key infrastructure and jobs achievements? 48. Key sites in Park Royal 49. Business support in Park Royal 51. Skills and recruitment in Park 52. Build internal and external 3. Park Royal / A40 developed, through Park through Park Royal Partnership Royal led by Park Royal support for Park Royal Corridor Royal Partnership Partnership Partnership 4. Increase economic 50. Support for food and media activity rate sectors, led by PRP 5. Raise skill levels 6. Town Centres (Park Royal)
Pursue improvements to orbital 4. Increase economic public transport as in 29. above. activity rate 6. Town Centres (Park Royal)
53. Incremental site improvements Review opportunities for modern 3. Park Royal / A40 along A40 logistics complex, as in 36. above Corridor
54. Promote Greenford Green development
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5.4 Ensuring wider benefits Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses Education, skills & inclusion Management and Resources Which of 6 key infrastructure and jobs achievements? Southall Gateway, Central Ealing, Acton Main Line, Park Royal/A40: All projects to be progressed across themes so that local benefits are at the All forefront and built into planning and investment agreements 55. With LSC & partners, develop 58. Ensure Employment & 4. Increase economic education and skills strategy for Skills Working Group of activity rate Borough, reflecting other LSP has strength and 5. Raise skill levels themes of Strategy resources to pursue
56. Apply strategy across Borough strategy development and oversee implementation. 57. Open opportunities for key sector training across the borough: ICT, media, food 59. Property redevelopment in 61. Business support for firms in 64. Skills programme to ensure 65. Ensure public sector 4. Increase economic Acton Town Centre and Acton Acton Town Centre and industrial access to jobs in development strengthens activity rate industrial areas areas redevelopment, including local businesses and opens 5. Raise skill levels 6. Town centres 60. Housing renewal in South 62. Support for firms contracting housing up opportunities for local Acton with public sector (e.g. for people housing redevelopment) 63. Media sector support 66. Implement Town Centre 69. Implement Town Centre business 4. Increase economic development programmes for support programmes for town activity rate town centres not immediately centres not immediately 6. Town centres benefiting from projects in benefiting from projects in Corridors: Greenford, Corridors: Greenford, Northolt, Northolt, Hanwell Hanwell 67. Orbital transport: link outlying areas and smaller town centres to larger centres and opportunity sites 68. Housing renewal programme in catchment areas of town centres
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Ensuring wider benefits (continued) Environment, property and Sustainable growth of businesses Education, skills & inclusion Management and Resources Which of 6 key infrastructure and jobs achievements? 70. Renew sports facilities 71. Establish business benefits from 72. Gain local skills benefits and 73. Through WLA, seek 4. Increase economic Olympics access to employment from Olympics benefits for activity rate Olympics Ealing 5. Raise skill levels
74. NRF-funded skills training in
Southall and south Acton to improve opportunities for residents currently excluded from mainstream 75. Apply same principles across other priority and isolated areas 76. Actively support disability and employment strategy 77. Housing development in 78. Promote local procurement 79. Transforming ‘estates’ to 4. Increase economic Council estates ‘neighbourhoods’ with connections activity rate to economic, social and cultural 6. Town centres concentrations 80. Measures to reduce crime 81. Crime reduction measures overall All ( necessary affecting businesses confidence-building measures) 82. Increase affordable childcare 4. Increase economic provision activity rate
83. Reduce health inequalities 4. Increase economic activity rate
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Ealing Regeneration – key regeneration areas, communities, projects
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6. Implications of this strategy for other strategies Community Strategy
The principles of quality, sustainability and inclusion and the new framework for regeneration and economic development are relevant to many sections of the draft Community Strategy, Success Through Diversity. The draft Community Strategy recognises the need to attract substantial inward investment as one contributor to ensuring there are opportunities for all people and businesses to prosper. It stresses the increase in high- skilled, high-wage jobs and the need to increase the chances of local people gaining access to these.
Details of the connections between this Strategy and the draft Community Strategy and of the connections between the relevant themes of the draft Community Strategy are contained in section 4.4 above.
Planning
This strategy is in line with Ealing’s Local Development Framework, the town centre plans, and the draft sub-regional development framework. The strategy’s new framework shifts the emphasis away from the former industrial arc to the Heathrow-Paddington corridor, while continuing to stress the economic importance of areas such as Acton Vale, Park Royal and the A40 corridor.
This strategy links the prospects of future economic development to the pursuit of quality in physical developments. It rejects the view that low-quality development should be permitted on the grounds that it is necessary to underpin the wider economy. In this context, it questions the need to retain South Acton Industrial Estate in its present form and similarly calls for the modernisation of poor-quality ‘backlands’ areas in Park Royal and the A40 corridor.
Transport
This strategy draws on the Transport Manifesto drawn up jointly by the local authorities, West London Business and West London Leadership in 2000. Some of the outstanding recommendations are relevant to this strategy’s principles of sustainability and inclusion. These include:
The need for effective orbital bus services.
Upgrading the Route 140 orbital service (Harrow-Hayes-Heathrow) to a high-frequency express bus corridor, converted over time to guided bus or tram, and designing further orbital services to link with the Uxbridge Road radial service at key interchanges.
Establishment of a metro-style service on the West London Line and on the North London Line.
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Increasing rail capacity between Acton and Airport Junction; establishing a stopping service between Heathrow and Paddington (now implemented as ‘Heathrow Connect’).
Crossrail to improve direct access from the West End and the City to Heathrow.
Developing new or improved stations and interchanges at Ealing Broadway, Willesden Junction, North Acton and Park Royal. (Southall and Acton Main Line now need to be added to this list.)
Managing the movement of freight by: ~ Working with the logistics sector to implement IT and Internet-based best practice in planning and co-ordinating the timing and rationalising origins and destinations of major freight movements. ~ Working with businesses, transport operators and local authority land-use and transport planners to ensure adequate provision for freight operations in UDPs and in the London Plan. ~ Implementing pilot projects in town centres that make the delivery of goods more efficient and reduce the impact on public transport services. ~ Supporting a new West London road-rail freight interchange to reduce the movement through the sub-region of freight whose origin and destination are both elsewhere. ~ Establishing freight partnerships, leading to the sophisticated long-term allocation of rail and road and space for freight movements; and to the widespread application of new ways of distributing freight both in town centres and in residential areas. Housing
The huge programme of investment in building housing and raising housing standards is a central element in Ealing’s regeneration.
Increasing the supply of affordable housing across the borough will help to ensure that economic growth is not constrained by labour shortages. Increasing the supply of affordable housing for sale is a particular demand from people in Southall but is likely to be important elsewhere as well for ensuring a mix of populations and tenures.
The transformation of traditional housing ‘estates’ to mixed neighbourhoods where the principles of quality, sustainability and inclusion are applied to housing will raise the prospects and ambitions of residents and increase the borough’s attractiveness to businesses seeking to invest or expand.
Education
Continuing to raise the quality and inclusiveness of the education system at every level is vital in an area where knowledge-related jobs are more and more common.
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Crime and Disorder Reduction
Crime and disorder reduction measures are being implemented which will maintain or restore confidence in the town centres. However, in other employment areas, including Park Royal, crime is a major concern which businesses feel is not yet being tackled adequately.
Health
Health problems and health inequalities – including inequalities of provision – undermine people’s individual lives and the economic strength of local areas as well as reducing the availability of people for employment. Areas where there is a concentration of health problems (often associated with other social problems) are not areas that are attractive to private sector investors.
Equality and Community Cohesion
Action to promote equality and community cohesion has important effects on economic development by drawing more people into economic activity. Additionally, ensuring that community tensions do not build up helps to ensure that areas remain attractive to new investors and that existing businesses are not tempted to relocate.
The use of language skills to increase economic inclusion can also help to strengthen communities and ease their interaction.
Childcare
Childcare provision is increasing but the shortage of affordable childcare provision is still seen as a barrier to economic participation.
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7. Measuring Success
Consultation on the new Community Strategy, Success Through Diversity, is taking place as this summary is being prepared. The indicators below are taken from Success Through Diversity in order to provide measures that are common across the strategies. This will make it easier to measure this strategy but also to contribute to the assessment of the success of the Community Strategy as a whole
Economic measures of success Investing in Southall, Ealing and other town centres
Total area of brownfield land improved/developed
Total area of new business/commercial floorspace (m2)
% increase in VAT registered businesses
Number of new jobs created
% increase in jobs Raising economic activity
% of working-age population who are in employment
% of working-age population who are economically active
% of working-age population who are claiming Jobseekers
Allowance (unemployment benefit)
% of working-age population who are in full-time and part-time education and learning Raising skills levels
% of working-age residents qualified to Level 3/Level 4 or above, NVQ (or equivalent)
Number of people who have achieved a formal qualification
Number of people who have completed higher-level IT training
Number of projects supporting people with disabilities into training and/or jobs
Housing and Environment measures of success
Improve the quality of residents’ homes across all tenures by investing over £300 million in council housing, regenerating South Acton and other key estates and neighbourhoods, providing quality housing services and creating at least 3,000 new affordable homes
Improve the quality of Ealing’s streets, town centres, parks and housing estates; to be in the top 25% in the country through improved cleanliness, investment and design
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Deliver sustainable transport in the borough by increasing public transport capacity by 5%, reducing congestion by 2%, investing in local traffic schemes and influencing the government to do the same
Safety measures of success Reducing ‘fear of crime’
% of residents who feel safe in the borough during the day / after dark
It is recommended that this measure be widened to include references to businesses and/or their staff and visitors. Reducing crime rates
Recorded crime rates of British crime survey comparative crime types Reducing anti-social behaviour
% of residents who feel anti-social behaviour has got worse in their neighbourhood over the past year
Total number of reports of key enviro-crimes: fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles; graffiti
Children and Young People measures of success Ensuring children achieve their potential
% of children achieving five A* to C grades or equivalent Ensuring children achieve economic well-being
% of young people aged 16-19 who are engaged in education, employment or training
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APPENDIX 1: TOWN CENTRE PROGRAMMES
From Ealing Council Committee Report, September 2005 Officers prepared strategies for each of its seven town centres over the period 2001 to 2002 around the strategy themes of: attractions and development; amenity and liveability; accessibility (including transport); and partnership and management. They have been adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the UDP to guide the future development of Ealing’s town centres. Officers also monitor the effectiveness of these strategies and will be revising them in the light of new challenges including a growing night time economy and legislation that has enabled the establishment of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). At a local level, strategies will have to consider initiatives such as the West London Tram, Crossrail, land availability and local economic issues. Officers carried out a further “health check” of all seven town centres in late 2004. A “health check” combines observations in the field with surveys of residents as part of a Residents’ Panel survey of 561 residents in 2002. The surveys collected attitudes relating to each town centre’s attractiveness, safety, access by public transport and car, provision of shops and other services and facilities. Overall, on a theme by theme basis, the following key headlines are noted: Attractions and Development There has been an increase in the number of retail units in all centres, except Greenford, and a decline in vacancy rates with an increase in demand for shops from the service sector; 65 development opportunity sites have been identified in town centres with briefs to facilitate investment (the Park Royal sites straddle the Ealing/ Brent borough boundary); The Council has carried out three shopfront improvement schemes (Acton, Southall and West Ealing); A £2.8 million Liveability Pilot is underway in Acton until March 2006; Amenity and Liveability The Council has invested in CCTV in three town centres (Acton, Southall and Ealing), and recruited town centre rangers in each centre; Streetscape upgrades have taken place in parks associated with town centres including Ravenor Park, Dean Gardens, Manor House Gardens, Southall Park, Acton Park, Northolt Village Green and Wesley Playing Fields; Streetscape design and liveability guidelines are at an advanced stage of preparation for all town centres. Accessibility Substantial investment has taken place in bus priority measures, new bus routes and a Home Zone in West Ealing. There are now direct overground rail links to Heathrow; The Council has collaborated with Transport for London in the development of the West London Tram project; The CPZ programme has been rolled out across town centres; City car clubs are underway in Acton and Ealing. Management Partnerships remain active in all town centres (Ealing Centre Partnership, Action Acton, Southall Regeneration Partnership, Hanwell Steering Group, Greenford Town Centre Association, Northolt Village Forum, Park Royal Partnership); Draft streetscape and liveability guides have been prepared for each main centre;
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Ealing Centre Partnership is leading the way in preparing for a Business Improvement District (BID). If successful, it will result in a supplementary rate, the equivalent of 1% of rateable value, levied on Ealing businesses. BID development work is being carried out in Park Royal, Southall and Acton. Ealing’s town centres are performing better than they have in recent years, especially with respect to vacancy rates. Clearly, this should be attributed in part to sustained economic growth at a national and local level. However, some of this success can also be attributed to town centre strategies and town centre investment promotional activity that seek to direct more investment into town centres and to improve the safe, clean and green management. Comparative attitudinal information will be available to test if the implementation of these strategies has resulted in changes in residents’ perceptions towards their local town centre. A survey will be carried out at the end of this year. This will test findings from the 2002 survey which indicate that: Ealing is the most popular centre; town centres generally provide good levels of services to meet local needs (with the exception of Hanwell); and access to town centres is considered reasonable with the exception of Southall. Along with BID development work, information from local businesses will provide the Council with qualitative and quantitative research on policy and strategy actions. 2006 to 2009 Draft Proposals Subject to Consultation: The tables overleaf [below] set out key priorities for each of the Borough’s seven town centres for the period 2006 to 2009.
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Ealing Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009 Programmes . Redevelopment of Dickens Yard underway. . Inward investment work on development of Ealing Broadway stations & Uxbridge Road office sites. ATTRACTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT . Development of creative hub at Ealing Green (Ealing . Increase retail & leisure floorspace by Studios, BT, Post Office & Ealing College). 16,500m2 . Redevelopment of West Ealing development . Mixed use development opportunity sites. . Promote markets . Pitshanger Manor Improvement project. . Promote community services . Street market plan agreed. . Comprehensive community, Council and business “sign post” service in place. . Annual events scheme in place. ACCESSIBILITY . Promote public transport, cycle, . Ealing Broadway town square completed. Pedestrian improvements . Crossrail authorised. . Promote car parking quality and location . Electronic booking for all town centre car parks. . Promote transport interchange . Shopmobility and city car clubs in place. improvements . City car club scheme in place. . Support improved strategic public . Quality car park plan implemented. transport orbital bus routes & “West London Transit” . Festival Lights scheme in place. . Public space plan for Dickens Yard finalised. AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY . Improvement project for Walpole Park – including Improve: Heritage Park restoration. . Streetscape quality . Integrated warden scheme in place. . Public open space . “Mayor’s 100 spaces”: public squares at Dean Gardens, Ealing Broadway Station and along West Ealing. . Community safety . Uxbridge Road streetscape and “boulevard” scheme . Building design completed. . Heritage . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management guidelines implemented. . Ealing Broadway BID in place generating over £300k pa PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT of town centre investment. . Town Centre Strategy . BID to cover West Ealing and central office area developed. . Develop Partnership & links with Council . BIDs become strong and effective local strategic . Promote Business Improvement District partnership partners. (BID) initially in Central Ealing and then in West Ealing . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check and update published. . Further Ealing key town centres residents perception survey carried out.
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. Redevelopment of Dickens Yard underway. . Crossrail authorised. PRIORITIES . New public squares at Ealing Broadway, Dickens Yard, . Attractions Dean Gardens and Walpole Park improvement . Accessibility Scheme. . Amenity . Integrated warden schemes in place. . Partnership . BID programme (s)/ partnerships in place, subject to a vote in favour. . Quality car park plan.
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Southall Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009 . Development of public library. . Investment in Southall community facilities. . Investigate integration of Southall Gasworks site into town centre. ATTRACTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT . Redevelopment of former White Hart and Victory public house sites. . Increase retail & leisure floorspace by . Featherstone Car Parks Development Framework 9,000m2 promoted. . Mixed use development . Iceland commercial/ car park redevelopment . Promote markets framework. . Promote community services . Manor House renovation plan, subject to Lottery Funding. . Comprehensive community, Council and business “sign post” service in place. . Annual events plan in place. ACCESSIBILITY . Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian . Crossrail authorised. improvements . Electronic booking for all town centre car parks. . Promote car parking quality & location . Gateway link road feasibility proposal/ funding in . Promote transport interchange place. improvements . Comprehensive parking / transport infrastructure . Support improved strategic public strategy agreed with quality car park plan. transport orbital bus routes & “West London Transit” . Improvements to Southall Park, including a new AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY children’s play area and improved tennis facilities. Improve: . Public realm improvements to Western Road triangle, Manor House Grounds, The Crescent, South Road . Streetscape quality and High Street “boulevards”. . Public open space . Integrated street warden scheme delivery improved . Community safety including improved envirocrime and safety services. . Building design . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management . Heritage guidelines implemented. . Investigation into a new ranger base at the Manor House Grounds. PARTNERSHIP & MANAGEMENT . Further Town Centre strategy health checks and . Town Centre Strategy update published. . Develop Partnership and links with . Further Ealing key town centres’ residents perception Council survey carried out. . Promote Business Improvement District . BID developed and operational. (BID) . New Southall Strategic Development Framework 2005 to 2016/2026, a Land Use, Transport, Social Capacity, Design and Infrastructure Plan.
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PRIORITIES . Inward investment activity focusing on Southall Gasworks site and other vacant sites. . Attractions . Integrated street warden service. . Accessibility . BID in operation, subject to a vote in favour. . Amenity . Quality car park plan as part of wider transport . Partnership strategy.
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Acton Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009 . Agreed master planning work for Acton Town Hall, ATTRACTIONS AND INVESTMENT including linkages with the Acton baths, library and Winchester Road car park. . Increase retail and leisure floorspace by 6,000m2 . Promotion of redevelopment of key sites including Acton Oak Centre car park, and 40-48 High Street. . To develop a distinctive character . Safeway site redevelopment plan agreed. . To develop the potential for a centre for the areas, media and the local . Street square/ market plan implemented. community . Comprehensive community, Council and business . Promote markets “sign post” service in place. . Annual events plan in place.
ACCESSIBILITY . Improved bus stop locations and environment. . Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian . Public car park Quality Plan implemented. improvements . Feasibility study linking Acton Town station and . Promote car parking quality and location Uxbridge Road. . Promote transport interchange . Crossrail authorised. improvements . Electronic booking for all town centre car parks. . Support improved strategic public . Horn Lane/ Steyne Road “boulevard” project transport orbital bus routes and “West (environment and public transport) to link with London Transit” Crossrail. . Annual festival lights scheme in place. . Public realm improvements to support pedestrian AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY access/ liveable spaces. Improve: . “Mayor’s 100 Spaces”: completion of the enhancement to The Mount Street public space. . Streetscape quality . Public open space . Enhancement to the small space on Crown Street to eastern edge of Woodlands Park. . Community safety . Enhancement to “pocket park” on Horn Lane/ . Building design Coronation Gardens. . Heritage . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management guidelines implemented. . Integrate street wardens service delivering PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT envirocrime and safety services. . Town Centre Strategy . BID development. . Develop Partnership & links with Council . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check & . Promote Business Improvement District update published. (BID) . Further Ealing key town centres residents perception survey carried out. PRIORITIES . Inward investment activity. . Attractions . Integrated street warden service. . Accessibility . BID developed focusing on town centre, subject to a . Amenity vote in favour. . Partnership . Quality car park plan.
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Greenford Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009 . Improvement/ redevelopment plans prepared for Greenford car park and new Greenford Civic ATTRACTIONS AND INVESTMENT Quarter around Greenford Hall. . Increase retail & leisure floorspace by . Street market plan implemented. 6,000m2 . Ravenor Park farm/ museum project implemented . Mixed use development including market. . Promote markets . Comprehensive community, Council and business . Promote community services “sign post” service in place. . Annual events plan in place. ACCESSIBILITY . Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian improvements . Quality car park plan implemented. . Promote car parking quality & location . Funding to investigate additional pedestrian movement improvements, in association with bus . Promote transport interchange priority works around Greenford Road/ Ruislip Road. improvements . Support improved strategic public . Introduction of a “walkability” scheme. transport orbital bus routes and “West London Transit” . Annual festival lights scheme in place. AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY . Public realm improvements to support pedestrian Improve: access/ liveable spaces. . Streetscape quality . Improved linkages between the town centre and the new Greenford, Northolt Countryside Park. . Public open space . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management . Community safety guidelines implemented. . Building design . Integrated street warden envirocrime and safety . Heritage service implemented.
PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT . BID investigated and developed, subject to a vote in favour. . Town Centre Strategy . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check and . Develop Partnership & links with Council update published. . Promote Business Improvement District . Further Ealing key town centre residents (BID) perceptions survey carried out.
PRIORITIES . Inward investment activity. . Attractions . Integrated street warden service. . Accessibility . BID development. . Amenity . Quality car park plan. . Partnership
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Hanwell Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009 ATTRACTIONS AND INVESTMENT . Increase retail and leisure floorspace by . Street market plan implemented. 2,000m2 . Comprehensive community, Council and business . Mixed use development “sign post” service in place. . Promote markets . Annual events plan in place. . Promote community services
ACCESSIBILITY . Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian improvements . Promote car parking quality & location . Crossrail authorised. . Promote transport interchange . Quality car park implemented. improvements . Support improved strategic public transport orbital bus routes & “West London Transit”
AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY . Improvements to Lidl town square secured. Improve: . Public realm improvements to support pedestrian . Streetscape quality access. . Integrated street warden envirocrime and safety . Public open space service implemented. . Community safety . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management . Building design guidelines implemented. . Heritage PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check and update published. . Town Centre Strategy . Further town centres residents’ perception survey . Develop Partnership & links with Council carried out. . Promote Business improvement District . BID concept investigated. PRIORITIES . Inward investment. . Attractions . Integrated street warden service. . Accessibility . BID development investigated. . Amenity . Quality car parking plan. . Partnership
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Northolt Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009
ATTRACTIONS AND INVESTMENT . Swimarama site upgraded. . Increase retail and leisure floorspace. . Comprehensive community, Council and . Mixed use development business “sign post” service in place. . Promote markets . Annual events scheme in place. . Promote community services
ACCESSIBILITY
. Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian improvements . Quality car park plan implemented. . Promote car parking quality & location . Promote transport interchange improvements . Support improved strategic public transport orbital bus routes.
AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY . Annual festival lights scheme in place. Improve: . Public realm improvements to support . Streetscape quality pedestrian access and liveable spaces. . Integrated street warden envirocrime and . Public open space safety service implemented. . Community safety . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ . Building design management guidelines implemented. . Heritage . Adoption of a Greenford and Northolt PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT property strategy. . Town Centre Strategy . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check . Develop Partnership & links with Council and update published. . Promote town improvement zones (TIZ) . Further Ealing key town centres residents perception survey carried out. PRIORITIES . BID investigated and developed, subject to . Attractions a vote in favour. . Accessibility . Inward investment activity. . Amenity . Integrated street warden service. . Partnership . Quality car park plan.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 70 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
Park Royal Town Centre
Strategy Themes & Action Programmes Draft Proposals for 2006 to 2009
ATTRACTIONS AND INVESTMENT . Development sites in town centre promoted to . Increase retail and leisure floorspace by ensure mix use development. 14,000m2 . Investigate “shop top” housing for Asda supermarket . Mixed use development site. . Promote community services
ACCESSIBILITY . Promote Bus, Cycle, Pedestrian improvements . Promote car parking quality & location. . New bus station to open in 2006 at the Central . Promote transport interchange Middlesex Hospital. improvements . Support improved strategic public transport orbital bus routes and “West London Transit”
AMENITY AND LIVEABILITY . New Open Space outside the hospital once it is opened in March 2006. Improve: . Public realm improvements to support pedestrian . Streetscape quality access and liveable spaces . Public open space . Integrated street warden envirocrime and safety . Community safety service implemented. . Building design . Streetscape design/ maintenance/ management . Heritage guidelines implemented. . Further Town Centre Strategy Health check and PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT update published . Town Centre Strategy . Further Ealing key town centres residents . Develop Partnership & links with Council perception survey carried out . Promote town improvement zones (TIZ) . BID investigated and implemented as part of wider Park Royal area. PRIORITIES . Inward investment. . Attractions . Integrated street warden service. . Accessibility . BID development incorporating town centre as part . Amenity of wider Park Royal area. . Partnership . Quality car park plan.
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 71 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
APPENDIX 2: EVIDENCE AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
London Borough of Ealing, Economic Regeneration Strategy - Draft Indicators and Position: Work in Progress, (March 2005). The strategy has drawn extensively on this data which measures Ealing against West London, London and England) under the following headings: VAT Registered Businesses Qualifications - Higher Level Rateable value of retail properties Qualifications Lower Level Employees and Industry Inward Teenage conceptions Investment Equality and Inclusion Working Hours Estate Renewal and Decent Homes Economic Activity Self Employment Brownfield Sites Employment GVA per Head Office and factory Unemployment development & vacancy Earnings Transport Affordable Housing Skills and Training Childcare Key Stage 2 and GCSE Results Deprivation
Labour Market Statistics: from ONS profile of Ealing
Employment by occupation Percentages are based on all persons in employment.
Ealing Ealing London GB (numbers) (%) (%) (%)
Soc 2000 major group 1-3 80,000 53.3 50.5 40.5
1 Managers and senior officials 24,000 15.9 17.1 14.6
2 Professional occupations 24,000 16.1 15.2 12.1
3 Associate professional & technical 32,000 21.3 18.0 13.8
Soc 2000 major group 4-5 31,000 20.9 22.4 24.4
4 Administrative & secretarial 19,000 12.7 14.2 13.0
5 Skilled trades occupations 12,000 8.2 8.1 11.4
Soc 2000 major group 6-7 18,000 11.7 12.9 15.5
6 Personal service occupations 8,000 5.3 6.4 7.5 7 Sales and customer service occupations 10,000 6.4 6.5 8.0
Soc 2000 major group 8-9 21,000 14.1 14.2 19.6
8 Process plant & machine operatives 8,000 5.1 4.8 7.7
9 Elementary occupations 13,000 9.0 9.3 11.8
Source: local area labour force survey (Mar 2003-Feb 2004)
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Qualifications All figures are for working age. For an explanation of the qualification levels see the definitions section. Ealing Ealing London GB (numbers) (%) (%) (%)
NVQ4 and above 77,000 37.7 30.8 25.2
NVQ3 and above 102,000 49.9 45.0 43.1
NVQ2 and above 123,000 60.2 59.0 61.5
NVQ1 and above 139,000 68.1 69.7 76.0
Other Qualifications 39,000 19.2 16.4 8.8
No Qualifications 26,000 12.7 13.9 15.1
Source: local area labour force survey (Mar 2003-Feb 2004)
Total JSA claimants The percentage figures show the number of JSA claimants as a proportion of resident working-age people. Ealing Ealing London GB (numbers) (%) (%) (%)
All people 6,106 3.0 3.3 2.3
Males 4,359 4.0 4.6 3.4
Females 1,747 1.8 2.0 1.2
Source: claimant count with rates and proportions (May 2005)
JSA claimants by age and duration The percentage figures represent the number of JSA claimants in a particular category as a percentage of all JSA claimants. Ealing Ealing London GB (numbers) (%) (%) (%) by age of claimant
Aged 18-24 1,430 23.7 25.9 28.5
Aged 25-49 3,625 60.0 58.8 53.4
Aged 50 and over 940 15.6 14.4 16.4 by duration of claim
Up to 6 months 4,045 67.0 61.2 68.7
Over 6 up to 12 months 1,150 19.0 20.4 17.4
Over 12 months 845 14.0 18.4 13.9
Source: claimant count - age and duration (May 2005)
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Employee jobs Percentages are based on total employee jobs. Ealing Ealing London GB (employee (%) (%) (%) jobs)
Total employee jobs 115,060 - - -
Full-time 86,294 75.0 74.8 68.1
Part-time 28,766 25.0 25.2 31.9
Manufacturing 11,205 9.7 5.7 12.6
Construction 5,720 5.0 3.2 4.4
Services 97,962 85.1 90.8 81.4
Distribution, hotels & restaurants 33,427 29.1 22.8 24.7
Transport & communications 10,533 9.2 7.7 6.0
Finance, IT, other business activities 26,488 23.0 31.8 19.8
Public admin, education & health 21,583 18.8 21.9 25.8
Other services 5,931 5.2 6.5 5.2
Tourism-related 8,673 7.5 8.6 8.1
Source: annual business inquiry employee analysis (2003)
Earnings by workplace Average earnings in pounds for employees working in the area. Ealing London GB (pounds) (pounds) (pounds)
Gross weekly pay
Full-time workers 532.9 637.2 475.8
Male full-time workers 569.1 717.0 525.0
Female full-time workers 468.4 516.6 396.0
Hourly pay
Full-time workers 13.4 16.4 12.0
Male full-time workers # 18.0 12.8
Female full-time workers 12.4 13.9 10.6
Source: New Earnings Survey : workplace based statistics by SOC 2000 occupation (2003) # Sample size too small for reliable estimate
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LDA, Understanding London’s Sectors (November 2003) London’s largest sectors in terms of gross output are financial services (£27bn in 1995 prices), transport and logistics (£16bn), creative (£15bn), professional services (£10bn), tourism & leisure (£7bn). West London has 17.33% of London’s employment. Sector % of London’s employment in Rank among London’s this sector in West London sub-regions Creative 17.8 2nd Food & Drink 31.9 1st Transport / Logistics 32.5 1st Information and Computer Technologies 24.1 2nd Life Sciences 41.8 1st Manufacturing 21.3 3rd Environment/green 14.5 3rd . LDA, prepared by PACEC: Understanding London’s Sub-Regional Economies: Main Report (Feb 2003) Key points: West London is the strongest of all the sub-regions in terms of Gross Value Added per worker, and the only sub-region to have no negative scores on any of the indicators of ‘Ultimate Economic Performance’. GVA/worker in West London is 61% above that nationally after allowing for structural differences. Greater London has a GVA/worker close to fifty per cent above that of the UK West London had a net loss of 76,000 manufacturing jobs from 1980-2000; it now has 65,000 (1,000 increase from 1995-2000) including 13,000 in printing and publishing; out of 308,000 for London (7,000 increase from 1995-2000), including 99,000 in printing and publishing. Food in West London is 11,000 out of London’s 27,000. GVA/worker for the Distribution and Leisure sector, which covers Retail and Wholesale Distribution as well as a variety of services provided to the personal/household sector, is more than double that of GB in West London. In West London GVA/worker was £46.7 thousand compared with only £22.1 thousand in Great Britain and £34.1 thousand in Greater London. There are 245,000 jobs in this sector in West London, out of 1,285,000 in London. West London has highest rate of growth of jobs in this sector. Table 4.12 Job creating sectors and Job releasing sectors in Greater London, 1991-2000 Job creating sectors Jobs created Job releasing sectors Jobs released (000s) (000s) Recruit., security & bus 223 Public admin & defence -50 support Computer 104 Rail transport -23 Education 65 Architecture & engineering -23 Property development & 48 Telecommunications -14 letting Restaurants 45 Retail: pharmacy & toiletries -12 Market research 37 Man: mechanical engineering -11 Broking & fund management 36 Motor vehicle repair -10 Wholesale: household 34 Man: metal goods -9 Taxi and freight 30 Wholesale: fee/contract -8 Cinema & TV 29 Gas supply -8 Accounting 27 Man: clothing -7 Funeral & household services 26 Industrial cleaning -6 Legal 23 Electricity -6 Retail: food 22 Insurance -6
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Warehouse & freight forward 22 Man: food -4 Advertising 19 Man: other chemicals -4 Retail: clothing & fashion 17 Aux. Insurance & pension -4 Social work & care 14 Supply -4 Travel agents 12 Water transport -4 Agriculture 11 Banking & finance -4 Wholesale: machinery 10 Sporting -4 Air transport 9 Retail: household -3 Wholesale: general & 2nd 9 Man: instruments -3 hand Waste treatment 9 Man: electrical components -3 Bars 9 Man: wood -3 Membership organisations 8 Man: basic metals -3 Real estate: fee/contract 8 0 Canteens & catering 8 0 Printing & publishing 8 0 Courier 7 0 National post 5 0 Retail: drink & tobacco 5 0 Total 939 -236 Source: Annual Business Inquiry, Annual Employment Survey, Census of Population, Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics, PACEC
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LDA, Sustaining Success. Economic Development Strategy (2005) The LDA’s themes are:
. Investment in Places and Infrastructure (issues covered by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs in Ealing EDS); . Investment in People (issues covered by Education, Skills & Economic Inclusion in Ealing EDS); . Investment in Enterprise (issues covered by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs and Leadership & Implementation in Ealing EDS); . Investment in Marketing & Promotion London (issues covered by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs and Leadership & Implementation in Ealing EDS).
There is an ‘evidence base’ presented for each theme.
LDA Corporate Plan 2004-2007 On the West London sub-region: ‘The sub-region is set for relatively strong growth in both population (an estimated 9,000 people a year) and employment (an estimated 5,700 jobs a year). By 2016, the sub-region could accommodate 45,000 additional homes and 86,000 new jobs. ‘There is, however, a relatively limited amount of development land in this sub-region; so much of the planned growth will need to be realised through higher density developments that exploit locations with good existing or potential public transport services. ‘The priorities for west London are to help maintain the success of the growth sectors by improving transport linkages, ensuring high quality commercial and residential property availability, improving public services and the natural environment and supporting the provision of the skilled workforce that is increasingly required. Other priorities include linking areas of deprivation with employment opportunities through labour market and skills initiatives, and maximising the benefits from the new national stadium at Wembley and the growth potential around Heathrow Airport.’
LDA & Business Link, The London Annual Business Survey 2003
Mayor of London, The London Plan, (2004) and Draft Sub-Regional Development Framework (2005
Roger Tym & Partners, King Sturge and C2G Consulting, Industrial and Warehousing Land Demand in London, Report for the Greater London Authority, August 2004
GLA Economics, London and Foreign Direct Investment, (2003)
ODPM, Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity, (March, 2005)
London Skills Commission, London’s Framework for Regional Employment and Skills Action (October 2002)
Phil Leask, Rosecliffe Associates [email protected] 78 Ealing Economic Regeneration Strategy: Draft 16.05.06
London West Learning and Skills Council:
Annual Plan 2005/2006
Needs Assessment 2004/2005
Insight, Research Magazine, Issue 5, 2005
West London and London 2012: West London’s offer to London 2012 to contribute to the bid and to the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London; and Report on the Benefits for West London of contributing to the bid and to holding the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London (West London Alliance, West London Business and West London Network, 2004)
West London Economic Development Strategy The WLED’s themes are:
. Skills for Growth (issues covered by Education, Skills & Economic Inclusion in Ealing EDS); . Business Competitiveness (issues covered by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs in Ealing EDS); . Land and Property (issues covered by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs in Ealing EDS); . Housing – a linked theme for the Ealing EDS; . Transport – a linked theme for the Ealing EDS; . Environment and the Quality of Life (issues covered mainly by Sustainable Growth of Businesses & Jobs but also by Education, Skills & Economic Inclusion in Ealing EDS).
Managing West London’s growth: ‘The potential for the West London economy to grow will depend mostly on the competitiveness and productivity of businesses. A critical issue will be the capacity and ability of the sub-region to accommodate population and economic development in physical terms. ‘… In particular, the sub-region has to develop property that can support and encourage higher value enterprises and investment, specifically high technology and growing clusters, e.g. creative industries; and needs to ensure the development of strategic sites that provide major opportunities for investment and growth. Securing a sustainable economy must also entail securing the future of West London’s towns as centres of economic activity.’
Audit Commission: Economic and community regeneration: Learning from inspection, Local Government Briefing
Arup Economics + Planning, The Western Wedge: Final Report, (2002) This covers both the West London sub-region and the adjacent Thames Valley area to the west. The following points underpin the Ealing strategy in relation to change in the type and density of development, the need for it to be based on transport improvements. They highlight sectors important for Ealing as well as for the wider area:
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Overview ii ‘…the area is best characterised currently as nodes or hubs of major growth potential…, These extend throughout West London and Thames Valley, with enhancement potential arising from transport improvements. Notably, CrossRail would reinforce and stimulate a polycentric, sustainable form of growth.‘ iii ‘In summary, the Wedge as a whole is undergoing a process of increasing specialisation, with the sectors which were already well established in the study area as areas of specialisation, growing most rapidly – air transport, high technology, defence and business services activities. Those which have declined are areas in which decline has taken place on an almost universal basis across the nation, as part of an ongoing economic restructuring process towards increasing tertiarisation. Above-average employment growth in the Wedge also illustrates the strong competitive “offer” of the sub-region within the context of the national economy.’ iii ‘the competitive spatial development of the Wedge should necessarily be transport-led to demonstrate the viability of alternative, non-car based access modes.’ v ‘Within West London, there are very significant brownfield redevelopment opportunities, probably capable of accommodating several hundred thousand jobs.’ vi ‘Overall, the most likely longer term scenario is of a move towards higher density employment developments on brownfield sites with more reliance on a broader range of access modes other than the car, for both policy and capacity reasons. There will be issues, particularly in the Thames Valley, as to the acceptability of this form of development to investors.’ Sectoral change vi ‘The majority of distribution and logistics operations which do require the international transport links will continue to cluster within the area, creating demand for additional space for this activity.’ vi Manufacturing will continue to decline. ‘Some of the best scope for new growth is entrepreneurial operations still at the beginning of the product cycle. This is likely to be in sub sectors such as applied technology manufacturing in activities such as information and communications technologies, aerospace technology, pharmaceutical materials, biotechnology, medical and healthcare equipment and food. These require high quality sites in accessible locations. ‘Design-related industries operating in niche markets where speed of response, quality and innovation are more important than cost, also offer possibilities. … Advanced manufacturing industry, particularly in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and information technology, food processing and manufacturing related research could also benefit from proximity to the airport in terms of materials and components supply as well as fresh food and vegetables (probably linked to the London market). ‘Software: The scenario for the Wedge in this sector seems to be one of “managed change”, with the retention of software development and HQ activities and expansion of software services coupled with the displacement of hardware and basic software programming activities. There are opportunities to spread the growth of software activity more evenly through the region, allowing companies to continue to benefit from the accessibility and cluster advantages of the area whilst tapping into existing pools of labour. Continued growth in higher value activities will require the provision or re-development of premium sites within the Wedge.’ vii Financial and business services will grow, with Reading and Uxbridge as hubs. vii ‘Creative and Media: Future growth depends on the continuing provision of suitable premises and proactive business support, for smaller businesses, including mixed uses and live/work space. … There needs to be sufficient broadband and wire-based capacity in communication networks, particularly to support the growth of leading edge media businesses (it is not clear whether this is in place at present). There is an opportunity to link the sectoral strengths within the Wedge of software and media to create a platform for the development of the next generation of creative and media industries.’
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