Inflation will stay close to 2 per cent; the latest quarterly inflation report from the Bank of England forecasts that inflation will remain close to its 2 per cent target for the next three years. Facing up to accusations of complacency made in the City Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank (pictured right), said that there were “substantial risks” to its central forecasts both for inflation and economic growth. The Bank’s central forecast is for the year-on-year growth rate to edge above 3 per cent by the end of 2006 and to stay at this level for most of 2007. This is well above the consensus of independent economists compiled by the Treasury who expect growth of 2.1 per cent this year, rising to 2.5 per cent in 2007. The City reaction to the Bank’s forecasts was that it was a sign that interest rates were unlikely to be cut in the near future. The Economist describes the Bank’s outlook as “stunningly stable” but has three warnings: one, that growth may be lower than expected which will pull down inflation; two, the reverse theory that factors such as rising energy prices may lead to big wage demands, and three; whether the high inflow of migrants which has eased capacity constraints and kept wages down will continue if the economy falters. For further information click here. Financial Times 16.02.06, Economist 18.02.06
Unemployment back up to 2003 level; joblessness rose by 108,000 in the final quarter of 2005 taking it to an overall total of 1.54m or 5.1 per cent of the workforce- the highest level since early 2003. The number of people in jobs fell by 58,000 to 28.8m, or 74.5 per cent of the workforce. The only small bit of good news was that the claimant count (those receiving jobless benefit) fell by 2,000. Having fallen almost continuously for more than a decade unemployment started to rise in the middle of 2005, threatening one of Labour’s proudest boasts; that it had all but achieved full employment. Although manufacturing has shed more than a million jobs since 1997, hiring by the retail sector and latterly the public sector has more than compensated. Now the weakness in the economy is taking its toll and analysts fear that rising unemployment could crimpany recovery in the economy and affect tax receipts. For further information click here. Guardian 16.02.06
Retail sales drop back in January; according to the Office
for National Statistics retail sales fell back last month after a strong Christmas,
leaving high street traders and economists struggling to predict the likely
strength of the consumer this year. The actual drop was 1.3 per cent on a
seasonally adjusted basis between December and January when the market had
been expecting 0.2 per cent. Nonetheless the sales for the three months from
November to January are 1.3 per cent higher than the previous quarter and
2.6 per cent higher than the same period last year. This has led to City economists
interpreting the figures in different ways. Vicki Redwood of Capital Economics
(pictured above) said, the “Christmas spending revival looks temporary”:
while Nick Verdi of Barclays Capital said the trend in retail spending “has
clearly recovered from the weakness seen in the first half on 2005”.
The Governor of the Bank of England has taken the view that “the true
meaning of the Christmas story will not be revealed until Easter- or possibly
much later”. For further information click
here. Financial Times 17.02.06
‘Losing company headquarters is bad for jobs and wealth’; writing in the Times Graham Searjeant examines the consequences of the spate of takeovers of major UK companies by foreign rivals. He says we have been blessed with a wide array of British multinationals but, unlike the French, we have taken them for granted. The value of multinationals as business assets is rising strongly as the world economy expands and growth shifts from Europe to Asia and America. Whilst an approach for the Luxembourg-based Arcelor steel company was immediately opposed by the French Government, swiftly followed by Spain and Luxembourg, neither the UK Government nor the Opposition reacted to the proposed takeover of BAA. In the UK lexicon of correctness, it is laughable to be concerned about ownership. Emotional nationalism does not make for good economic and industrial policy. But domestic companies are national assets: ask Australians. And losing company headquarters and all the professional functions that go with them is bad for jobs and wealth: ask the Scots or Liverpudlians. Times 10.02.06
All-party group warns about the future of the High Street; the much-heralded report by the all-party committee on small shops gives a grim picture of the British high street over the next ten years. The group believes that up to 10,000 small shops could be at risk over the next ten years. It warns that if supermarkets are allowed to grow unchecked consumers will end up as the biggest losers as they will start raising prices once saturation has been achieved. The committee singles out convenience stores, grocers, newsagents and petrol forecourts as being particularly vulnerable. Supermarket domination would also have knock-on effects on the community and the most vulnerable; the elderly, the less affluent and those without transport will be hardest-hit. It gives examples of areas where there are “local monopolies” such as Inverness where Tesco has a 51 per cent share and Twickenham where it has 47 per cent. For further information click here. Guardian 15.02.06
Accountants call for children to be taught entrepreneurship; the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has called for every child in Europe to be taught entrepreneurship and business studies. In its European Manifesto ACCA says that more education in schools will counter the lack of entrepreneurial endeavour and the high rate of business failures in Europe. Only 40 per cent of people in Europe want to start their own business compared to 60 per cent in the USA. Fledgling firms also have less chance of success with only 5 per cent growing into large business in Europe compared to 20 per cent in the US. It goes on to call for a number of new measures relating to red tape, taxation and reporting. For further information click here. Times 13.02.06
Identifying obstacles to improved productivity; the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) anticipates today’s (23rd February 2006) report on international productivity being published by the Office for National Statistics, by a report calling for better management practices. The new ONS report is expected to show UK output per hour lagging behind Germany, the USA and France. The CIPD says that the figures will continue to disappoint unless there are major improvements in the way people are managed. In the public sector there has been a failure to modernise management practices. The Chancellor’s “preferred brand of top-down, target-focused management of the public services has failed to make the most of the billions of pounds of extra investment he provided”. For further information click here.Financial Times 20.02.06
250,000
ethnic businesses in Britain; a whole page feature in the Sunday
Times Business News looks at why migrants are some of the most enterprising
people in the UK. It quotes from a report on global entrepreneurship, produced
by the London Business School, which found that non-whites are 40 per cent
more likely to be entrepreneurs, with Indian and Pakistani Britons twice as
likely. The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTi) Ethnic Minority
Business Forum estimates that there are 250,000 ethnic minority businesses
contributing £15bn a year to the economy. A recent Barclays Bank study
showed that the number of BAME start-ups had grown to record levels, increasing
by a third to hit 50,000 new businesses in 2004- 11 per cent of all business
start-ups. However, the BAME tag (Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority) tends
to be misleading, as it tends to be South Asians who are more likely to be
entrepreneurs. Patrick McGovern of the London School of Economics also points
out that two-thirds of the labour in ethnic businesses consists of owners
or unpaid family, not employees. As second and third generations gain qualifications
they are less likely to join the family concern. However, experts foresee
a new wave of immigrant entrepreneurs from other parts of the world. For further
information click
here and here.Sunday
Times 19.02.06
COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS
Home Office bids to boost young volunteers; a programme to help voluntary and community organisations to recruit young volunteers is to be launched by the Home Office. Starting in the spring it will provide £350,000 to fund workshops in the nine regions of England to enable VCS organisations to learn how to attract young people as volunteers. The workshops are a response to the proposals made by the Russell Commission’s report on youth volunteering published last year. For further information click here. Regeneration 10.02.06
Retailers and food companies clash over labeling; retailers have criticised the move by a group of leading food companies to go ahead with their own nutritional labeling scheme rather than opting for the government’s proposed traffic light proposals. The Food Standards Agency has opted for a labeling scheme known as “multiple traffic lights” as being in the best interest of consumers. The scheme uses red, amber and green to indicate foods that should be eaten sparingly, in moderation or plentifully. Final proposals are due to be published in March. Some retailers have already adopted the system. However, reacting to criticism that they did not like the traffic light system because it would lower sales of unhealthy foods, the Food and Drink Federation said that it had rejected the system as simplistic and potentially misleading and Kellogg’s said that it did not give consumers enough nutritional facts to compare products. Financial Times 11.02.06
Wal-Mart the latest victim of Hollywood; following the success of the documentary broadside Supersize Me which attacked McDonalds another film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price has captured audiences and featured at the Berlin Film Festival. Made by Robert Greenwald, who also made a documentary attacking the bias in Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, the film accuses Wal-Mart of paying breadline wages without adequate health cover and argues that it destroys the fabric of small towns by killing off rival businesses with discount prices. It also features scenes shot in East London. Wal-Mart has responded vigourously with briefings for staff on how to respond to the film and producing a rival documentary Why Wal-Mart Works and Why That Makes Some People Crazy. Guardian 13.02.06
Green is the new black for Oasis; the fashion chain Oasis has followed Marks and Spencer in introducing a range of organic and toxin-free clothing. The Future Organic line of jeans, jackets and tops will be launched in April. This is the latest in a growing green trend on the high street. M&S will stock Fairtrade T-shirts and socks from next month; Topshop is looking at stocking garments made from ethically traded cloth and H&M have been selling Stella McCartney’s limited edition T-shirt. Guardian 16.02.06
Survey of current CSR reviews; as the debate about Operation
and Financial Reviews (OFRs) continues the Salter Baxter consultancy has produced
a review of the corporate social responsibility reports produced by the FTSE
100 companies last year. It says that 14 offered too little substantive information
to be considered legitimate CSR reports. Whilst some of these companies produced
short annual reports as well, most of them that were contacted by the IoS
said that their next reports would say considerably more. For further information
click
here. Independent on Sunday 19.02.06
Government consults on regional aid; the DTi has launched a consultation paper on the future of regional aid. This follows the European Commission guidelines on regional aid that comes into force at the start of 2007. At present Cornwall, West Wales and the Valleys, and the Scottish Highlands and Islands qualify for Assisted Area status and will continue to do so. The amount of UK regional aid has been set at £23.9m for the six-year period starting in 2007: slightly less than previously but this marks the fall in UK unemployment. For further information click here. Regeneration17.02.06
Two-tier local government could go; addressing the Local Government Association’s sustainable communities conference David Miliband (pictured right), the Communities Minister, said that two-tier local authorities are likely to be scrapped in the forthcoming white paper on local government. He said that local government would have to accept radical changes and hinted that there would be big changes at parish level. In the past he has pointed out that countries such as France and Germany have far more councils at a commune level and proposals to devolve power to the neighbourhood level were published a year ago. It is thought that the new system will include beefed-up powers for parish councils and allow neighbourhoods to raise their own taxes. He said that rather than resist the changes local authorities should strive to become “the first among equals” among local partners and try to exert influence in areas where they are unable to directly provide services. The minister also revealed that incentives for councils to deliver high numbers of housing growth will be announced in the next Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007. For further information click here. Regeneration 11.02.06
Key data on local communities; the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published a report aimed at helping regeneration practitioners to understand their neighbourhoods. The report summarises and provides information on key data in areas such as population, deprivation, education, crime and health. For further information click here. Regeneration 10.02.06
M&S
look at apartments; following in the footsteps of Tesco and J Sainsbury,
Marks and Spencer have announced that they are investigating the scope for
adding flats to some of their in-town stores in London and the South East.
They have asked Nathaniel Litchfield to look at five or six stores to see
if surplus storage space can be converted.
Estates Gazette 11.02.06
Miliband to embark on second round of ‘city summits’; David Miliband, the Communities Minister, is to embark on a second tour of core cities to discover what the cities want in order to become more effective. It is thought that he will focus on smaller cities and groups of large towns. For further information click here. Regeneration 10.02.06
Forty
years after Cathy Come Home; Shelter has published a report to mark
the 40th anniversary of the showing of Cathy Come Home, the BBC TV drama that
led to the creation of the homeless charity. The report shows that whereas
there were 6,400 households in temporary accommodation in 1976 there are now
more than 100,000. In the year that the programme was shown the government
built 180,000 houses compared to 20,000 in 2005. The government has committed
to halve the number of families in temporary accommodation by 2010 while increasing
house-building budgets by 50 per cent. For further information click
here.Guardian 15.02.06
New Government plan to make offenders undertake unpaid work; a big expansion of compulsory unpaid work by offenders, including helping to prepare the 2012 Olympics site, lies at the core of the government’s new five-year plan to curb crime and the rise in the prison population. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, said that he proposed to introduce a new sentence of “custody plus” which will see most of the 61,000 offenders a year who are sent down for 12 months or less spending less time inside and more outside on community punishments. He envisaged that the 5m hours of unpaid work done by offenders last year as part of the “community payback” scheme would be doubled to 10m hours within five years. He hoped to develop a new network of community prisons, with modest levels of security, as the base for those on “custody plus”. The Treasury has yet to put forward the finance for the network. For further information click here Guardian 10.02.06
Migrant workers boost UK growth; according to a new EU report the free movement of migrant workers from the new East European member states of the EU has had a positive economic impact particularly in the three countries (the UK, Ireland and Sweden) that did not impose restrictions on entry. Migrant workers total less than 1 per cent of the working age population in all countries, bar Austria and Ireland where the total is 3.5 per cent. Workers from central and eastern Europe have contributed to high economic growth, a drop in unemployment and more jobs. For further information click here. Regeneration 17.02.06
Europe’s position may not be so gloomy; Hamish McRae analyses a new report from Goldman Sachs, which has looked at the prospects for Europe in the same way that it tackled BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) some years ago. They conclude that Europe may not necessarily suffer but that it is going to require some adjustments to our working habits. Even if birth rates do increase it takes 20 years before a person born now will enter the workforce. So, aside from immigration, the main way that Europe can maintain the size of its workforce will be by increasing the participation rate. That happens either by people retiring later or by people who are of working age, who not at present working, doing so. Staying longer has been accepted intellectually but in practice is hard to achieve. The main way of increasing labour participation is for more women to stay in paid employment, but that may clash with the idea of larger families. As for migration the UK “Polish plumber” experience has demonstrated the value of new skilled workers, but this is migration within Europe so it does not help the position of Europe as a whole. In any case the population of Eastern Europe is forecast to drop even faster than that of Western Europe in the long run. If Europe is to offset the drag of a declining workforce, it has to boost its productivity. For further information click here. Independent on Sunday 12.02.06
Britain on brink of fertility crisis; a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says that record numbers of women are either delaying motherhood or remaining childless with the result that Britain faces “serious long-term consequences”. One of the reasons for delaying motherhood is the fact that young mothers stand to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds over their lifetime for taking time out to have babies and losing their place on the career ladder. In the report Population Politics (pictured right) the IPPR calculates that an educated women who has her first baby at 24 stands to lose as much as £564,000 Alternatively others on lower incomes choose not to have children because they feel they are unable to afford the £180,000 that some estimate is needed to bring up a child today. The result is that childbirth rates have more than halved for 20 to 24-year-olds and risen by more than a third for those aged 35-40. Nick Pearce, Director of the IPPR, says that a fall in fertility makes it harder to earn our way in the world and to pay for public services. The number of people aged over 65 is currently nine million but this is expected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2021. If overall birthrates fall then the basic rate of tax will have to rise by 2p by the middle of the century to keep services such as healthcare and education at current levels. For further information click here. Independent on Sunday 19.02.06
Private Godfrey strikes back; scientists are claiming that new anti ageing therapies will enable people to have a retirement age of 85 by 2050 and that some drugs that slow down ageing will be available as soon as 2010. Speaking to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Professor Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University said that in Britain current life expectancy at birth was 77 for males and 81 for females, an increase since 1970 of eight years for men and six years for women. In Britain today there are 1.5 pensioners for every five workers but by 2050 the figure could rise to four pensioners to every five workers. Professor Tuljapurker says, “If that happens, people are going to have to work to the age of 85”. For further information click here. Society Guardian 20.02.06
Plan
to boost private sector nursery wages; the government has announced
an unusual plan to subsidise wages in public and private-sector nurseries
to act as an incentive for childminders with degrees. For a two year period
starting in April nurseries and other childcare facilities will be able to
apply for up to £16,000 to help employ graduate workers and to improve
staff training. There will also be funds to facilitate university courses
and to provide cover as long as nurseries commit to capping their fees to
£175 a week and to gaining satisfactory or better reports from Ofsted.
A separate report by the Daycare Trust estimates that parents in London have
to pay an average of almost £200 a week for a full-time nursery place.
For further information click
here and here.
Guardian 14.02.06.
Car
mechanics earn more than barristers; a survey by What Car shows the
average car mechanic often charges more per hour than a barrister or a doctor.
The survey shows that drivers frequently pay more than £100 per hour
at franchised dealers although there were marked regional differences. A Vauxhall
garage in Scotland charges £49 whilst a BMW dealer in London charged
more than £100 per hour. A locum doctor can charge £500 a day
whilst a barrister can earn as little as £30 an hour.
Guardian 17.02.06
How
can people become ‘useful’? the Guardian runs an extract
from the new book The Culture of the New Capitalism (featured right) by Professor
Richard Sennett, currently of the London School of Economics. In the book
Sennett explores the theory that large numbers of people in North America,
Japan and Europe want the kinds of work they can’t have- what he deems
usefulness. In the past people saw the way to progress as education and today
it is seen as skills. But he argues that the “skills society”
needs only a relatively small number of the educated who possess talent and
that the economic machine can run profitably and efficiently by drawing on
an ever-smaller elite. The education system turns out large numbers of graduates
who will not find work in the jobs for which they trained. Capitalism supposedly
looks for labour where it is cheapest but Indian call centres are better educated
and trained than those call-centre workers in the west. Other specters of
uselessness are automation and age. Age touches on how long a skill lasts
and skills extinction has sped up not just in technical work but also in medicine,
law and crafts. The diminishing value of experience reveals that skill means
the ability to do new things, rather than to draw on what one has already
learned. Sennett does not think the problem insoluble and one place to start
is the public sector. Many tasks that provide care or mentoring are either
poorly paid or unpaid; unrecognised as work. As the private economy sheds
workers, we ought to invent ways to use the experience and skills of these
workers as carers. The Culture of New Capitalism is published by Yale Press
on February 28th- price £14.99. Guardian 11.02.06
EU
passes modified services directive; a year after President Chirac
tried to shelve it amid fears that France would be overrun by Polish plumbers,
the European Parliament has passed a measure to liberalise services. Although
newcomers would have to abide by French labour and health laws the proverbial
“Polish plumber” or “Czech hairdresser” would have
the right to set up in France or any EU member state. Under the new proposals
individual countries would be forbidden from imposing unfair barriers, such
as the German insistence that foreign companies have to register with the
local chamber of commerce, which has a five-year waiting list. However, some
restrictions do remain so that cross-border entrepreneurs will not be allowed
to provide public services such as health and education and some services
are excluded such as employment agencies, lawyers, social services and security
services. The directive now passes to the European Commission, then to the
Council of Ministers before coming back to the Parliament. For further information
click
here. Guardian 17.02.06
Patten challenges European institute proposals; Lord Patten (featured right), Chancellor of Oxford University, has challenged the proposals to establish a prestigious European Institute of Technology by warning that it could divert scarce resources away from existing research centres. José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, has proposed spending £1.4bn to create such a body modeled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has also proposed a European Research Council (ERC) that would provide funding for top-end research across the continent. However, Lord Patten argued that the Commission should focus money on exisiting bodies. “Europe already has one or two institutions which do as well as MIT and many more which would be able to do so if they were better funded”. The UK would stand to gain the most from the ERC. Only five of the world’s top 30 universities are in Europe and four of those in the UK and one in Switzerland. Lord Patten’s opinions echo those voiced by leading universities and the Commission’s own research advisers. The Commission is due to put forward detailed proposals in the next few days. Financial Times 17.02.06
London college and hospital merger mooted; the Evening Standard reveals that discussions are taking place between Hammersmith Hospitals Trust, St Mary’s NHS Trust and Imperial College to create the first combined medical, academic and research trust. Evening Standard 15.02.06
Drop in university applications; the number of people applying
to go to university has fallen by 3.4 per cent- the first drop for six years.
Student leaders said that, coming just months before the introduction of student
tuition fees, the figures showed that thousands of potential applicants had
been put off by the prospect of paying £3,000 tuition fees. However
ministers pointed out that the drop was smaller than opponents of the fees
had forecast and followed a much larger than usual increase last year. This
had resulted in a 12,500 overall increase in applicants compared to 2004.
For further information click
here. Guardian 16.02.06
Sweden plans to be world’s first oil-free economy; Sweden is seeking to completely wean itself off oil within 15 years. The government wants to replace all fossil fuels with renewables before climate change destroys economies and growing oil scarcity leads to huge price rises- and it aims to do this without building any more nuclear power stations. At present Sweden gets almost all its electricity from nuclear and hydroelectric power, but relies on fossil fuel for transport. Almost all its heating comes from schemes that distribute steam or hot water generated by geothermal energy or waste heat. A committee has been set up of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report back to parliament in several months. At present 26 per cent of all energy consumed comes from renewable sources compared to the EU average of 6 per cent; only 32 per cent comes from oil compared to 77 per cent in 1970. Energy officials expect that the oil committee will recommend further development of biofuels derived from its massive forests, and by expanding other renewable energies such as wind and wave power. For further information click here. Guardian 08.02.06
Britain urged to burn more rubbish; a review published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) calls for three times as much rubbish to be burned in incinerators and twice as much to be recycled within 15 years if local authorities in England are to keep up with those in Europe. There are also calls for more effort to be put into producing less waste. The review proposes that 27 per cent of all the waste produced by households in England should be burned by 2020 compared to 9 per cent today and that the amount of waste put into landfill sites should drop from more than 72 per cent today to 25 per cent by 2020 Britain currently recycles 22 per cent of household waste compared to Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium who all recycle more than half. Whilst industry welcomed the proposals environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, expressed doubts about incineration and the possible effects on attempts to recycle more. For further information click here. Guardian 15.02.06
National
Trust warns about threat to heritage; Fiona Reynolds, Director-General
of the National Trust, has warned that climate change is posing a serious
threat to Britain’s heritage. The extremes of much wetter and drier
weather are taking their toll of buildings and beauty spots whilst rising
sea levels were causing problems for the 1130km of coastline managed by the
Trust. Fiona Reynolds went on, “it is clear that a changing and unpredictable
climate has huge implications for us, both operationally and financially”.
For further information click
here.Financial Times 17.02.06
London wants more money and power; the Economist examines London First’s call for more cash to be given to the capital by central government. It says that the plea, which is that an extra £6.7bn be put into transport and education in London by 2011, will startle other Britons who, if they think of it, expect London’s wealth to be redistributed to the rest of the country (one reason why London’s public services are so poor). It agrees with London First that London is not competing with the rest of the country but with the likes of New York, Paris and Shanghai. In any case parts of London are very deprived and three of Britain’s five poorest districts are in London. At 7.3 per cent its unemployment rate is the highest in the country. One third of London’s workforce was born overseas and migrant workers tend to be either very well educated or almost totally unskilled. Along with more money Londoners want more control over the way their city is run. The Mayor has made the most of his powers and, in particular, control of transport and in 2007 he will gain control over some commuter lines. Unlike the CBI London First supports the Mayor’s bid to gain control over skills training and a government review of his extended powers is due soon. However it says that if the Mayor did get more revenue-raising powers, new taxes would only drive firms overseas. It quotes Tony Travers of LSE (pictured right) who says that the only answer is to keep “battering against the Treasury’s door until they hand over the money”. For further information click here. Economist 18.02.06
Closures outstrip start-ups; the number of London businesses closing down exceeds the number of start-ups for the first time since the early 1990s according to an “economic snapshot” report from the London Development Agency. The LDA’s economists say that although the start-up rate has fallen below zero this has been caused by the national economic slowdown, which tends to exaggerate the peaks and troughs. The LDA argue that it is reasonable to assume that when economic conditions improve London will probably outperform the rest of Britain. Manny Lewis, the Chief Executive of the LDA (pictured left), says that a more worrying trend is London’s low rate of employment growth which, since the third quarter of 2004, has meant that London has the lowest employment rate, as a proportion of the working-age population of any region. Much of the unemployment is concentrated in seven boroughs in east London surrounding the site for the Olympics. The Agency has been restructured to prepare for the Olympics and, in another change, Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College and Former Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, has been asked to lead a group linking London’s universities and business with the objective of encouraging innovation. For further information click here. Financial Times 08.02.06
Draft Waterloo Development Framework; the Mayor (pictured left) has published a draft planning framework for the 197-acre Waterloo area covering Waterloo station and the South Bank stretching from St Thomas’s Hospital to Gabriel’s Wharf. The district was identified as an ‘opportunity area’ in the London Plan and thus capable of holding plenty of new homes and jobs. Amongst the proposals are a new town square, three new towers above the station to house office space and homes, and work to improve the area as a major transport interchange. The station itself would get a new entrance from York Road and the main concourse would be lowered to ground level to link up with pedestrianised zone. There are already indications of concern about the height of the proposed towers and their effect on the London skyline in general, and in particular the Houses of Parliament. The consultation lasts until April. For further information click here. Regeneration 10.02.06, Evening Standard 15.02.06
London tourist numbers down in 2005; visitors to attractions in the capital fell last year by 6 per cent, with tourist numbers down 30 per cent in the period after the terrorist attacks of July 7th. Larger attractions suffered the worst losses, while British visitors stayed away in greater numbers than those from overseas. Christmas events, especially outdoor ice skating, helped to bring tourists back for the last two months of the year, when numbers were only marginally down on 2005. A small rise of 1 per cent is forecast for 2006 when a number of new attractions will be opening for the first time. For further information click here. Times 13.02.06
Go-ahead for new station underneath St Pancras; Transport Secretary Alastair Darling has given the go-ahead for a £65m new Thameslink station to be built below the new Eurostar platforms at St Pancras (artist's impression shown on the right). The new station, which is seen as “the last piece in the jigsaw” will allow passengers an easy interchange with international services in the revamped main station, regional mainline services in the new station on the side and Tube trains at King’s Cross. When the Eurostar trains are switched from Waterloo in 2007 the journey time to the Channel Tunnel will be reduced to 35 minutes and the overall journey time to Paris to 2 hours 15 minutes. For further information click here. Evening Standard 08.02.06
Indecision about Barts costs £600,000 a day; as discussions continue between the government, the Barts and Royal London Trust and Skanska Innisfree, about the future of the £1.15bn private finance scheme to rebuild the Royal London and Barts hospitals. Final contracts were due to be signed before Christmas but Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, ordered a review with a view to taking a decision by January 31, after which date Skanska could pull out and claim £100m costs. Skanska are, in fact, keeping their 200-strong team in place and every day they report for work but have nothing to do. It is estimated by Skanska and the Trust that this adds £600,000 a day to the overall costs. Guardian 16.02.06
Court decision hits London art market; the European Court of Justice has upheld a preliminary opinion that higher rates of value added tax should be imposed on imported art sold through the UK. The decision, coming on top of the changes required by the droit deuite regime, which imposes an additional levy on some works of art for the benefit of the original artist, is seen as putting the London art market at an increasing disadvantage against New York. Paddy Behan, VAT Director of Grant Thornton, said that with 50-60 per cent of the EU auction sales taking place in the UK “My fear is that today’s ECJ decision may drive business out of the EU altogether”. A Treasury spokesman said that it was disappointed by the decision and that it remained determined to ensure that the tax system operated in a fair and efficient way and that the UK art market remained competitive. For further information click here. Financial Times 10.02.06
London
Fashion Week changes style; following what the FT calls ‘both
an image problem and talent drain’ London Fashion Week was given a revamp
to become what the Times calls “ a sparkling, multinational event”.
The five-day event included 48 catwalk shows and 170 exhibitors and moved
to a position just overlapping with the Milan Fashion Week which made it easier
for the non-British to attend. It also replaced the defecting designers, such
as Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson, by trawling
the world for new talent. The result was that the Times said that London was
suddenly the fashionable place to be. Anna Wintour, Editor of US Vogue, has
returned and buyers from Barneys, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and
Bloomingdale’s were represented for the first time for several years.
Summing up, the Times quotes Tanya Hughes, spokeswoman for London Fashion
Week, as saying, “The gamble has totalled paid off….It’s
still relatively small but in terms of quality it was the better front row
than we have had in years”. The Times says that the London Week confirmed
that the city remained an extraordinary source of talent. Guardian 14.02.06,
Financial Ties 14.02.06, Times 15.02.06, Times 20.02.06.
Too many unelected London bodies; the “clutter” of unelected bodies running the capital’s services is confusing Londoners and undermining accountability according to the Commission for London Governance. In its final report the Commission calls for a dramatic reduction in central government interference in London’s affairs and more powers for the Mayor and the Boroughs, such as the ability to raise local revenue by setting their own business rates. They want to see the Mayor gain control of the 15 local Learning and Skills Councils and closer relationships between the local authorities on health, education and social services. For further information click here. Times 13.02.06
London Eye gets new lease of life; the future of the London Eye has been secured after a long-running battle over rent with their landlord the South Bank Centre. Tussauds have taken over complete control of the Eye by buying a third of the business from David Marks and Julia Byfield, the architects who designed the Eye. They had previously bought out British Airways. Tussauds have also completed a new 25-year lease with the South Bank Centre, which guarantees a minimum payment of £500,000 a year, based on the Eye’s turnover. Financial Times 09.02.06
Jobs taskforce is launched; a task force has been created to help Londoners gain the skills needed for jobs related to the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. The London 2012 Employment and Skills Taskforce, which is to be chaired by Jeremy Long (pictured right), will work with the Olympic bodies to assess the labour required in London before, during and after 2012, and the capacity of local and London labour markets to meet these demands. It will also assess the capacity of the providers to train people as well as looking at ways of engaging the harder-to-reach groups to ensure they can access training. For further information click here. Regeneration 10.02.06
Decision day approaches for King’s Cross; the Observer runs a feature article on the £2bn plans for the redevelopment of King’s Cross which go to the local authorities for planning approval next month. It interviews Roger Madelin, Chief Executive of Argent, who is responsible for the 67-acre scheme, who says “This is the last piece of central London available to develop in one contiguous piece”. Known as King’s Cross Central the scheme will include 1,946 homes (44 per cent affordable), 4.5m square feet of office space, and galleries, music venues, parks, open spaces, schools and a swimming pool. Virtually all the atmospheric and historic railway buildings will be retained and it is hoped to attract some iconic structures. One such is the University of the Arts, incorporating Central St Martins School of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design and the London College of Fashion who will move up to 5,500 students into a purpose-built campus at the centre of the scheme. For further information click here. Observer 19.02.06
Merchant Square replaces health campus; the Paddington Development Corporation is to submit plans to Westminster City Council for land at Paddington Basin that had been designated for the Paddington Health Campus. The £700m scheme, which will be one of the largest new developments in the capital, is for 1.8m sq ft spanning six buildings in a mix of housing, offices and shops. The Paddington Development Corporation is owned by Pearcroft, a private property group, and a joint venture between the Reuben Brothers and Multiplex, the Australian property group. It is hoped that planning permission will go through by the end of the year and that construction will start in 2007. Times 11.02.06
Middlesex Hospital to be remarketed; CB Richard Ellis is to the remarket the 2.5- acre Middlesex Hospital site in Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia. A previous attempt to sell the site foundered after difficulties in transferring the services to the new UCL hospital in Euston Road. At that time there were over 30 bids for the site, which Westminster City Council has earmarked for a 500,000 mixed-use scheme. Estates Gazette 11.02.06
Planning dispute about future of Metropole Hotel; plans to demolish the old Metropole Hotel (pictured right) at the junction of Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall Place are causing controversy. The hotel, which was built in the 1880s and was ranked with the Savoy in 1929, has been a Ministry of Defence office block since the 1930s. The Crown Commissioners have put in an application to replace the building with a block of offices, shops and a rooftop restaurant. They argue that the original Bath stone facades have been damaged by inappropriate repairs and quote Sir Niklaus Pevsner who dismisses the facades of the Metropole as “an ill-assorted collection of motifs”. However English Heritage say that they feel strongly that the building is important and should not be demolished. The building is not listed. Times 13.02.06
Brits sign up for the Dome; the first signs that the Dome is emerging from its long period of inactivity has come with the news that the Brit Awards, the highlight of the British popular music year, will move to the Dome from 2008. The awards are currently held at Earls Court which can only house 3,900 whereas the Dome can provide 23,000. The Anschutz Group (AEG) has promised to invest £250m in the Dome to create the new arena as well as a smaller 2,200-seat “music club”, a British Music Hall of Fame and The O2 “Exhibition Bubble”. AEG are seeking to build up a portfolio of annual events and have so far signed up Cirque de Soleil and US basketball. There will also be about 150 pop concerts a year. Profitability still depends on securing one of the super casinos, which would be based at a casino-hotel next door to be managed by Sol Kerzner. Times 14.02.06
New office scheme for City fringe; Hackney Council have
given the go-ahead for a 19-storey office building in Crown Place on the edge
of Broadgate. A number of schemes on adjacent sites have become stalled in
disputes about conservation issues. Estates Gazette 11.02.06
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