Blair’s spending review suffers serious setback; the FT says that the Prime Minister’s plans to publish a Fundamental Savings Review of departmental spending next month has received a serious setback. Although his aides still say that it will lay “a vital foundation stone” for the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007 (CSR) the FT says that with less than six weeks to go it looks as though the downgrading of the document is politically significant. Mr Blair has regularly depicted it as an important sign that he still had decisions to take on Britain’s future before he left Downing Street; however the Chancellor has always reserved the right to take all the critical decisions on departmental spending when he delivers the CSR in the summer of 2007. He sees it as the big set piece event of this parliament, one that will lay the battleground on which he wants Labour to fight the next election. The biggest decision will be spending on the NHS, with most analysts expecting that he will reduce the spending in real growth terms from the current 7 per cent a year to something more like 3 per cent. Financial Times 15.06.06
The Governor warns of a “bumpier stretch of road”; Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has warned business leaders in Edinburgh that global inflation is rising and threats from abroad are now more important for UK inflation than domestic economic issues. Stephen King (pictured right), Managing Director of Economics at HSBC, writes in the Independent that similar remarks have been made by other central bankers including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke who attacked higher energy and commodity prices whilst his colleague Donald Kohn highlighted the uncertainties created by “the rest of the world”. King (HSBC) says that the substance behind these utterances is the fact that policy makers are faced with a mysterious threat but they are not sure what to do about it. The threat can broadly be described as “the rest of the world” or, more informally, it’s somebody else’s fault”. For further information click here - Independent 19.06.06
Unemployment hits six-year high;
unemployment hit a six-year high in the three months prior to April as demand
for labour failed to keep pace with the number of people entering the workforce.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.3 per cent with 1.605m out of work and looking
for a job. However, during the same period the number of people in work rose
by 130,000 to 28.94m. During the past year the total number of people who
are “economically active”- either in work or looking for work-
rose by 470,000 due to immigration, and there has been a rise in the number
of women and older workers choosing to find a job. Commenting on the increase
in the size of the workforce, John Philpot of the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development said: “the downside of more willing hands and brains
during a period of weak labour demand is higher unemployment. However, one
benefit of a slack labour market is that pay pressures remain subdued”.
The Sunday Times quotes analysts as saying that simultaneously rising employment
and unemployment makes it hard for the Bank of England to judge the slack
in the labour market. For
further information click here
Sunday Times 18.06.06
Social
entrepreneurs face disillusionment; with sponsorship from
Barclays, the London Business School has undertaken the largest ever study
of social entrepreneurship with some worrying results. The survey finds that
people who create businesses with a social purpose tend to grow more disillusioned
with entrepreneurship as their enterprises mature. Rebecca Harding, the author
of the report, says “Social entrepreneurs as a breed of people are very
positive but when they get to the stage where they can grow into something
big they often find it difficult”. One problem is that there are very
few venture capital groups organised to invest in social enterprises so that
many organisations that start as social enterprises end up as charities, relying
for funds on donations. Established social enterprises were more likely than
those starting up to have adopted charitable or not-for-profit status. According
to James Alexander of the Community Action Network another problem was that
many social enterprises struggle to free themselves from the restrictions
placed on them for funding from charitable trusts and government bodies. Young
people were more likely to be social entrepreneurs than any other age groups
and there are higher percentages in rural communities than in urban areas.
Afro-Caribbean Britons were more likely than whites to be social. Social enterprises
account for 3.2 per cent of the working population, or almost 1.2m adults.
For
further information click here -
Financial Times 12.06.06
Saving rural pubs; the Guardian examines the situation facing rural pubs where following the hectic activity in buying and selling pub chains there is a steady decline with 5 per cent of UK pubs closing in the past decade. It looks at the work of the Pub is the Hub, an organisation set up with the backing of the Prince’s Trust, which aims to help rural publicans diversify into just about every local service imaginable. Some 200 local post offices have been integrated into local pubs, 80 convenience stores and 30 IT training centres have also been added. More bizarre diversifications have included adding a bakery, pharmacy, dry-cleaning services, a library and, in one case, the relocation of village church services. For further information click here Guardian 10.06.06
Osborne gets into trouble over innovation; as he completed a tour of Silicon Valley George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, told the FT that Britain was not doing enough to commercially exploit its scientific discoveries. Neil Bradshaw, Chairman of the University Companies Association, called his remarks “terribly naïve” and said that the UK was starting to catch up with the US, which enjoys a 20-to-30-year head start. Other experts lined up to berate him for failing to take into account developments in the UK where they claim a string of world-beating companies are set to emerge from the British universities over the next 10 years. The only area where he got any sympathy was from Mike Lynch, Chief Executive of Autonomy, who said that he agreed that the investment climate needed to improve. Too much capital was tied up in private equity deals and there was not enough angel finance. However David Norwood, Executive Chairman of IP Group, one of the new breed of specialists in early-stage finance and incubation, said Mr Osborne’s remarks were “cheap jibes”. Financial Times 19.06.06
COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS
IBM chief calls for a new type of global company; Sam Palmisano, Chairman of IBM (pictured right), writing in the FT calls for multinational companies to evolve into a new type of corporation if they are to avoid a global backlash. He argues against the traditional approach adopted by companies such as Ford, General Motors and IBM, of building factories in Europe and Asia but keeping all the research and development in the United States. He calls instead for the full global integration of their operations to stop the current unease about the forces of globalisation turning into an all-out assault on big business. He says that if left unaddressed, “the people may ultimately close to elect governments that impose strict regulations on trade or labour, perhaps of a highly protectionist sort”. Ironically his views could also upset many US anti-globalisation campaigners who see offshoring as a threat to US jobs. For further information click here Financial Times 12.06.06
Gates decision will have knock on effect; Hamish McCrae looks at the decision by Bill Gates (pictured left) to switch his energies to philanthropy and says that in the US he is following on a time-honoured tradition, which we in the UK are only just starting to revive. He quotes Andrew Carnegie: “The man who dies rich dies disgraced”. McRae says that an organisation with the focus and drive of Bill Gates will create a bow-wave that affects the way that aid is targeted globally; he will insist that things work. There is a parallel with higher education in the developed world. In the US, which supplies 17 of the top 20 (the others being Oxford, Cambridge and Tokyo) universities rely on a combination of fee income and charitable donations. For the top US universities philanthropy is the key to success, while in Britain there is a tremendous push to build up endowments to enable our universities to compete better against the States. In continental Europe, which lags disastrously behind the US in quality, university education is still largely state funded. There is every probability that foundations funded by wealthy families will carry on growing for the foreseeable future as the ranks of the rich create a global class who see it as their duty to use their wealth to support wider social objectives. In the UK, charitable giving runs at about half the level in the US but evidence suggests that the US attitude is spreading. Independent on Sunday 18.06.06
Why business lobbied for urgent action on climate change; Larry Elliott, economics editor of the Guardian, examines why the cream of British business including executives from Vodafone, Unilever, BAA, John Lewis, Tesco, Shell and eight other companies lobbied the Prime Minister on climate change. While this is not new behaviour, the difference in this case was that the blue-chip companies were not seeking lower taxes or a bonfire of red tape, but immediate steps to tackle climate change. In a sense, this is not surprising. Capitalism has not survived for the past 250 years by allowing the grass to grow under its feet; it has adapted, changed, and moulded itself to the evolving zeitgeist. If you are Shell, Vodafone or Tesco the strategic backdrop to your business for the foreseeable future is how to marry growth with environmental sustainability. So this may be the tipping point. Although the green groups have been pressing the case for years the reality is that business carries far more clout in Whitehall than any NGO. When it speaks, ministers listen, especially if there is a risk of a political penalty from inactivity, as there is at the moment. Elliot quotes the letter from the business leaders, “We are very serious about our offer to work with you to make the UK a world leader in the transition to a low-carbon economy. We also intend to work with the other major political parties as it is clear that cross-party consensus will be critically important for such leadership is sustained over the long term”. Elliott concludes “in other words, prime minister, if you don’t take us seriously we know someone who will”. For further information click here Guardian 12.06.06
Cameron says business ‘must shed evil image’; unabashed by the attacks made on him for his seemingly anti-business stance David Cameron, has returned to the attack. He told a business audience attending the awards ceremony for the first FT Sustainable Banking Awards that business needs to shed the image of “evil corporations and their bankers” if it is to flourish in the future. Companies that ignored public concerns faced “huge reputational and practical risks”, he said, arguing that ethical consumers were exerting increasing power. He stressed that a Tory government would seek primarily to use exhortation rather than regulation, to drive behavioural change by business. For further information click here Financial Times 13.06.06
Social
Exclusion Unit to be replaced; the first meeting of the cabinet’s
social exclusion committee since the appointment of Hilary Armstrong as Cabinet
Minister for Social Exclusion has approved the closure of the Social Exclusion
Unit. The Unit is currently part of the new Department of Communities and
Local Government having been transferred to John Prescott’s ODPM a few
years after it started. It was originally set up in Labour’s first term
within the Cabinet Office and staffed by civil service high-flyers but is
now felt to have lost influence after its transfer. Critics claim that its
reports have had increasingly limited impact and failed to lever open the
necessary funding. Another criticism was of its open style of working which
was supposed to have left it open to the views of the pressure groups. The
aim will now be to get social exclusion work more deeply embedded in the relevant
departments. A small taskforce staffed by members of the Downing Street strategy
unit and the old Social Exclusion Unit will be set up in the Cabinet Office
to prepare a detailed action plan. For
further information click here Guardian 13.06.06
Local Government White Paper delayed until the autumn; the long-awaited local government white paper has been postponed until after Parliament’s summer recess- probably October 9th. This follows the ministerial switch-around and, in particular the arrival of Ruth Kelly as secretary of state at the renamed department of communities and local government and not least the departure of former communities minister David Miliband. Miliband had made no secret that he was working up proposals for city regions and for the so-called double bounce where power was devolved away from Whitehall, through the local councils to neighbourhoods and parishes. Regeneration quotes sources close to local government minister Phil Woolas that mayoral and neighbourhood governance were still likely to feature whilst Ruth Kelly has said publicly that she was “really keen” to help councils develop city-regions’ economies. Regeneration 09.06.06
Paris tries to keep hold of its residents; faced with a steady decline in the number of residents Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor, has published a blueprint, which aims to reshape the city architecturally, economically and socially by 2020. He said that the aim was to make Paris just not an historic city but also one with a “contemporary dynamic”. While tourists still flock to the capital, the locals are leaving, fed up with the traffic, the pollution, the lack of affordable housing and office space, parks and open spaces. The number of Parisians, currently 2.1m, is shrinking at more than 1 per cent a year. The city has lost one in ten of its jobs over the past 15 years as firms move to quieter and cheaper premises. The Mayor proposes a local urbanisation plan (PLU) including the creation of large park and social housing out of derelict railway land in the 17th arrondissement, the area earmarked as the site for the Olympic village of Paris had won the 2012 Games. He also proposes enclosing the city’s 10-lane ring-road and creating a forest and a shopping mall over the top. The plan also plans to reduce the number of car parks by 10 per cent and to use the sites for housing while protecting 129 areas containing historic buildings. However the Mayor rules in a coalition between his own Socialists and the Greens who have objected to too many offices and not enough social housing. For further information click here - Paris.fr Guardian 13.06.06
Warning over Sure Start: an
article in the British Medical Journal warns that the Sure Start scheme, which
offers help to more than 600,000 children
in
England, may actually be making the poorest in society worse off. A study
has compared families in 150 Sure Start communities with families in 50 areas
of similar deprivation. It found that most poor families benefited in terms
of home learning environment, parenting and behavioural problems, and the
development of their children. But, according to the same measures, children
from the most deprived families, such as teenage mothers, lone parents and
unemployed households, were adversely affected. One of the reasons could be
that the most deprived families found the extra attention “stressful
and intrusive”. Another may be that the moderately deprived families
were more ready to take advantage of the services, leaving the most deprived,
with fewer resources and less access. Whilst more children and families were
affected beneficially because the most socially deprived groups account disproportionately
for many problems in society, the apparent adverse effects of Sure Start local
programmes may have greater consequences for society. For
further information click here - Evening Standard 16.06.06
Minister
pledges to end adult illiteracy by 2020; Alan Johnson (pictured
right), the new Education Secretary, has pledged to stamp out illiteracy and
innumeracy in the adult workforce by 2020, claiming it was no longer acceptable
to indulge in “the luxury of failure” by tolerating poor but vital
skills. He told the Institute of Directors that in Britain five million adults
cannot read and a further 15 million- almost half the workforce - are in work
despite having the numeracy skills of those of 11-year-olds. He also flagged
a survey to be published by the Learning and Skills Council showing that the
number of employers reporting skills gaps is down. However, he did not rule
out imposing “radical action” to force some sectors to improve
their standards, including the possibility of introducing compulsory training
levies.
For further information click here - Guardian 15.06.06
Call for extra £2bn spending on childcare; the Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) has called for an extra annual expenditure of £2bn to be spent on childcare for 5m low-income families as part of the drive to halve child poverty by 2010. In a report the IPPR argues the existing state support through the troubled tax credit system excludes many disadvantaged children. For further information click here Financial Times 12.06.06
Employers turning to older workers; a survey of 800 employers in the private, public and voluntary sectors shows that some 70 per cent “are actively seeking to recruit people aged between 55 and pension age” whilst 31 per cent are seeking to recruit people over pensionable age. The survey was undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development who commented, “it is encouraging to see that so many employers are introducing age-diverse practices ahead of the new regulations in October. This enables employers to tap into the relatively unused talent pool of older workers to overcome recruitment difficulties and help build an age diverse workforce that can add real value to business”. The survey also found that, despite growing unemployment in the UK, employers continue to experience recruitment problems with 15 per cent targeting migrant workers from eastern Europe and another 12 per cent recruiting in other countries. Sainsburys have recently announced plans to recruit up to 10,000 workers aged over 50, claiming that they were savvier when it came to dealing with shoppers. B&Q have been pursuing the policy for nearly two decades with the result that about 25 per cent of their overall staff are over 50. For further information click here Financial Times 14.06.06
Powergen brings call centre jobs back from India; Powergen, the UK’s second biggest energy supplier, is to bring its call centre operations back from India, leading to 980 UK jobs being created by the end of the year. The move is part of a small but growing trend with Abbey shutting its Indian call centres last year after complaints from customers. Some Indian companies are also moving “near-shore”, as they call it, to run call centres in the UK. ICICI One Source has announced in the last fortnight that it will open two call centres in Northern Ireland, creating 1,000 jobs. One of its main rivals, HCL, also opened a centre in Belfast last year. Independent 16.06.06
Low unemployment ‘myths’ attacked; the Work Foundation has attacked claims that low levels of employment regulation and weak trade unions are the cause of low unemployment. It attacks the assumption that “being more like America” is essential if high levels of unemployment are to reduced in countries like France and Germany pointing out that countries like Denmark, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands had achieved better or comparable levels of labour market dynamism than the UK, while at the same time providing higher levels of “workplace justice”. Further information click here - Financial Times 12.06.06
Employers need to understand young people; employers need to understand young people’s needs and lifestyles if they are retain the brightest recruits according to a new report from Demos, the think-tank. It says that talented graduates feel out of place in large companies that do not know how to handle a generation with higher debt and greater expectations of good work-life balance. For further information click here - Financial Times 14.06.06
Number of migrants jumps by 24 per cent; according to the OECD Britain experienced the second largest inflow of legal migrants of any rich country in 2004 but the numbers settling in the UK are much lower than government data suggests. The number of migrants in 2004, largely as a consequence of the eastwards enlargement of the EU, was 266,500 - second only to the USA, which saw 946,000 arrive. Only Britain, Sweden and Ireland opened their doors to migrants from the new member states such as Poland although other EU member states have now followed suit. The figure of 266,500 is in sharp contrast to the government figure of 494,000 long-term migrants but the OECD says that this figure includes many foreign students who only stay a while. They also point out that many of the 345,000 workers from eastern Europe who registered in Britain between May 2004 and the end of 2005 only stayed for the duration of a short-term work contract. For further information click here Guardian 09.06.06
Oxford and Cambridge target Hackney primary schools; for the first time Oxbridge is targeting primary school pupils as potential future recruits, starting in Hackney. Oxford is hosting a day in July for children aged 10 and 11 from six Hackney primary schools. Some of their classmates are visiting Cambridge this month. David Johnson, Co-ordinator of the Oxford Access Scheme, says: “This is a pilot scheme, but if it goes well we could consider doing it for children aged as young as five”. Rosemary Marsden, Project Manager of the East Hackney Education Action Zone, said that the aim was to get pupils thinking about university before peer pressure turned them off working hard. “Research suggests if you can get them at this age it gives them a spur in secondary school because performance tends to dip when they are [14 or 15]”. By targeting the children Oxford and Cambridge were doing what independent schools had done for years. Observer 11.06.06
Questions about enterprise education; the Sunday Times Business News says that many secondary school pupils are currently getting their first taste of enterprise education following the government’s pledge to spend £180m over three years to introduce the subject to 14 to 16-year-olds. In return for the money, which averages £17,000 each year for every school, five days a year must be devoted to fostering enterprise. However Business Dynamics, a business-education charity, that has commissioned a report into how the money will be spent, has doubts about how well the schools are going to spend the money. David Millar, the Chief Executive, says: “While some schools are doing excellent work, it seems the majority are not. When schools are in deficit, when roofs need repairing, when money is not ring fenced and Ofsted inspections are a light touch, there’s not going to be much accountability in terms of how the money is spent”. The study shows that teachers are not clear on how best to use the money or how to introduce enterprise education into lessons. Various agencies are offering enterprise training, yet there is little guidance for teachers, or accreditation required for those offering it. On a happier note the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is helping to train teachers to make enterprise an integral part of the curriculum. It also organises a network of 200 school enterprise clubs and is embedding enterprise teaching into most subjects in the curriculum from the age of 12. Further information-Business Dynamics homepage and Schools’ Enterprise Education Network Sunday Times 18.06.06
Blair rules out nuclear plant incentives; the Prime Minister is to rule out financial incentives to rig the energy market in favour of new nuclear power stations when he unveils the government’s energy strategy next month. Whitehall officials say that he will take on the critics of nuclear power who argue that the cost of replacing the ageing nuclear capacity is unaffordable by arguing that it is a more cost-effective way of generating electricity than coal or gas. Even though Downing Street and the Treasury are in broad agreement the uncertain cost of decommissioning the old plant has already caused sharp differences in cabinet with one senior minister said to have described the £70bn-plus cost as “bloody massive”. Gordon Brown threw his weight behind the nuclear option in a Times article (June 10) and he and the Prime Minister believe that a clear policy statement, coupled with simpler planning and licensing, will be enough to stimulate private investment in new plants. The topic also came up in the meeting between the Prime Minister and President Chirac on 9th June when they agreed to set up a “regular Franco-British nuclear forum” involving government officials, and industry and technical experts. Eighty per cent of French electricity comes from nuclear power compared to 20 per cent in the UK. Guardian 10.06.06, Times 10.06.06, Financial Times 12.06.06
Blair pledges 30 per cent emissions cut; the Prime Minister and David Miliband, the Environment Secretary (pictured right), have announced that all Whitehall departments will become carbon neutral by 2012 and emissions from government buildings will be cut by 30 per cent by 2020. They also plan to reduce waste and water consumption by 25 per cent by 2020, recycle 75 per cent of waste and increase energy efficiency by 30 per cent per square metre. They were responding to a report by Sustainable Development, which said that, the government “misses opportunities” and “could do more to lead by example to achieve its policy goals”. The cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, will enforce the report’s recommendations across departments and agencies. Further information-Defra, UK - News stories - 2006 stories - Government targets carbon neutrality by 2012 and Procurement Task Force Guardian 13.06.06
Householders may have to pay for waste disposal; the Times claims that it has seen proposals that householders should pay a second tax for their household rubbish to be collected as part of a range of proposals to reform council tax. Charges for non-recyclable domestic waste are being actively considered by Sir Michael Lyons, (pictured right) as part of his inquiry into local government finance. Sir Michael told the Times that he was considering a range of user charges, including environmental taxes, to supplement council tax and make the cost of services more visible. Local councils would have the power to charge residents by the kilo for black bags of waste, which would be weighed by rubbish collectors. Sir Michael said that it was a fairness issue “Why should people who don’t take recycling very seriously or have a lifestyle that generates a lot of waste be able allowed to when their neighbours are being careful not to generate waste and are putting their energies into recycling?”. Other options include charging for the type of waste bag, deducting money from council tax for greener households, or imposing penalties for those who refuse to separate their waste. Sir Michael backs the idea of an enabling bill that would give councils the power to impose a range of charges rather than making it mandatory. Critics immediately pointed to the possibility that people would dump their rubbish down the street. Times 13.06.06
Controversy over waste-fuelled power station; after sixteen years and two public inquiries the government has finally given its backing for a waste-to-electricity power plant on the south bank of the Thames at Belvedere (pictured right) opposite the old Ford works at Dagenham. Cory Environmental, which will run the £200m incinerator, said that it could save more than 100,000 lorry journeys a year by using tugs and barges. The incinerator, which will start in 2010, will burn up to 585,000 tonnes of rubbish each year mostly from the four London boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. It will herald a new wave of such incinerators as the government presses ahead with plans to burn three times more household rubbish over the next 15 years to avoid heavy penalties in an EU directive to curb waste buried in landfill projects. Friends of the Earth attacked the announcement saying that “it will not only end up burning lots of materials that should be recycled, but it will also emit large amounts of climate-changing carbon dioxide”. Ken Livingstone said that the decision would mean that there was less incentive to recycle. For further information - Guardian 16.06.06
London is still top destination for foreign investment; according to research by Ernst & Young’s European Investment Monitor, London attracts more than 5.7 per cent of all foreign direct investment into Europe - more than any other European city. However, whilst the UK and France lead the league table for actual investment E&Y warns that they are slipping behind Germany and the emerging east European economies in the survey of investor image. For further information Regeneration 09.06.06
London can become Islamic banking centre; the Chancellor has told an Islamic trade and finance conference that London will become the gateway for Islamic finance into Europe. He highlighted the work being done in tax and regulatory reform to support the development of sharia-compliant finance and the “pioneering approach” taken by the London banks in launching Islamic banking products. For further information Independent 13.06.06
City vacancies rise by 20 per cent; whilst the national employment figures (page 1) show vacancies on the decline surging recruitment in the banking and investment management sectors pushed up vacancies in the City by 20 per cent in April compared to a year earlier. According to the survey by Morgan McKinley, recruitment specialists, the hiring drive is driven by business expansion and replacement recruitment with senior qualified accountants, compliance specialists and operations professionals particularly in demand. Robert Thesiger, Chief Executive of Morgan McKinley, said: “The City is a micro-economy as it is so specialist in what it does. We’re getting back to previous highs of 2000 and 2001 in terms of the number of people employed”. The demand for high calibre candidates is driving up average basic salaries, which are pushing past £50,000 for the third consecutive month. Some banks are now searching further a field to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa for accountants, and to Asia for a range of financial workers. For further information Financial Times 16.06.06
Mayor launches Crossrail campaign; Ken Livingstone, pictured right, has warned that major planning applications in central London will have to be turned down within two years unless there is a commitment to building the east-west Crossrail link. His argument is that congestion on the Tube is becoming so acute at pinch-points such as Tottenham Court Road that closed stations will become more common in the next couple of years - making large-scale development in the city’s core unviable. Crossrail have confirmed that the cost of building the Maidenhead to Shenfield and Abbey Wood line, which will require tunnelling from Paddington to the Isle of Dogs, has not risen in real terms from the 2002 estimate of £10.29bn. The Mayor is being supported in his campaign by all the main business organisations in London as well as the City of London Corporation. For further information Regeneration 09.06.06
Mayor continues his battle with Thames Water; the Mayor has accused Thames Water of putting the security of London’s water supplies at risk by failing to draw up an alternative to the contentious desalination plant in east London that has been refused planning permission. An appeal against that decision is taking place at a public inquiry, which is currently nearing its final stages. In his letter to Jeremy Pelczer, the Chief Executive of Thames Water, the Mayor urges the company to draw up a strategy to extend water metering, accelerate the replacement of leaking pipes and increase effluent water re-use if Londoners are not to suffer water shortages over the next decade. His objection to the proposed desalination plant, which would be the first in the UK to turn sea water into tap water, is that it was unnecessary to build an “energy and carbon guzzling” plant on protected land when the company was leaking 915m litres of clean water a day from its pipes. Thames Water refused to react but feels it has a good chance of gaining permission for the plant, which would supply up to 150m litres a day. It has told the inquiry that the plant is the best way to obtain such a large amount of water, from a sustainable source, within a short time frame. Further information Financial Times 15.06.06
City Fringe nominated as London’s most enterprising area; the City Fringe Partnership has won this year’s Enterprising London award for bringing businesses together to help regenerate areas on the edge of the City of London. By beating five other finalists to the title City Fringe will go forward to the national awards, being organised by the DTI’s Small Business Service, to be held in September. The runners up were the Lab, a youth focused recording studio in Woolwich, and the Innovatory’s Hackney Enterprise Network. The City Fringe brings together the boroughs of Camden, Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets together with the City of London Corporation and the London Development Agency. Since adopting the City Growth framework, originally a US initiative, it has been creating clusters whereby groups of small businesses in the same industry develop investment plans for their industry to expand and encourage new enterprises. For further information - City Fringe Partnership and GNN - Government News Network Regeneration 09.06.06
Newham locals win battle against superstore; Asda, which is part of Wal-Mart, has withdrawn its controversial plans for a superstore on the site of Queen’s Market in Newham. The proposed store was featured in the recent documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price that looked at the fight of local residents who feared that traders in their ethnic food market would be forced out of business by the supermarket giant. Asda said that it had withdrawn as the revised proposal was for a two-storey store when they only wanted to be on the ground floor. Newham Council said that it was confident that St Modwen Properties, the development partner charged with the regeneration project, would attract another retailer to the site. Independent 17.06.06
Google to use London base for next phase of growth; the Times says that it has been told by senior Google executives that London is to the centre of operations for its mobile phone division which is seen as the biggest driver of new business. Google is reorganising the way it presents search results on the internet to conform better with mobiles. It is also testing dozens of search-related products to be used solely on mobile phones and other pocket-sized devices. Google say that you only have to look at the global trends for mobile use to see where their business is going. In India mobile phone ownership outweighs PC ownership by a ratio of two to one. There are five million more mobile-phone users coming online every month. By the end of this year there will be more mobile phones in India than in the US. In the UK there is a mobile phone for every person whilst in parts of Scandinavia mobile ownership is almost double that rate. Times 17.06.06
Westfield races to complete Games consortium; the Estates Gazette says that Westfield is racing to put together a team to bring forward the Stratford City Olympic Village site after taking control of the £4bn scheme. Westfield, the world’s largest shopping centre developer, is principally interested in the 1.5m sq ft shopping centre, and is looking for leading housing builders for the 5,300 home proposed and regeneration specialists to tackle the 5m sq ft of offices. There is some concern that putting all the residential units on the market immediately after the Games are over could flood the market but David Joy of London & Continental Railways, which owns the 180-acre site, sees the Village as part of a new “water city”, which will incorporate the canals, waterways and green spaces of Lea Valley Park. He says that they will build the village and then hand it over to the Olympic Development Authority for the Games. He says that they have looked at various models for an Olympic village and have opted for the Barcelona example where they built the village as part of a new city. LCR will begin the sale of the flats as early as 2008 and aims to have 75 per cent sold by the time the opening ceremony gets under way. At least 30 per cent of the flats will be affordable but the largest top-floor apartments are expected to be sold for £1m each. Sunday Times 11.06.06
Final masterplan for the Olympic Park; the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) will submit a new planning application for the legacy of the 2012 Games after radical changes have been made to the masterplan. Denying that this would cause delays David Higgins, the Chief Executive of the ODA (pictured right), finalising the details so early would enable the ODA to keep costs down and that the revisions were “broadly cost neutral”. The changes include moving the two media centres- up to 1m sq ft of business space-into Hackney. In addition the Olympic cycle stadium will move from a site at the north of the Park in Waltham Forest to a site in Newham. In exchange the hockey stadium will be moved to Waltham Forest after the games. For further information click here Regeneration 09.06.06
Olympics chief says costs may rise; giving evidence to the London Assembly David Higgins, Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, refused to confirm whether the Games could stay within budget. He said that once a delivery partner has been appointed in August they can do their own review of the costings, but he did admit that he was worried that the projects costs were based on estimates of construction costs rising by five per cent a year. Regeneration 16.06.06
Mayor pushes for expanded West End; Estates Gazette says that the Mayor is pushing for amendments to the London Plan to create a “West End Special Retail Policy Area” where the existing stringent policies in favour of mixed-use would be relaxed. This would add up to an extra 2m sq ft of shopping to the area, which would encompass Oxford Street, Bond Street and Regent Street plus, Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street. If sites could be found within this zone for new shops the existing 6m sq ft of prime floorspace will be allowed to increase by a third. There will also be a need of complementary uses, such as hotels and restaurants. Although the housing provision restrictions would be relaxed developers would be expected to contribute to transport and/or public realm improvements. Large-scale development would be expected at the eastern end of Oxford Street and the southern end of Tottenham Court Road. More detail will be added later in the summer when the commission on West End development, set up by the mayor last September, will publish its report. The plan could run into problems with the City of Westminster who have strict policies requiring any new commercial floorspace to be matched by residential space. Estates Gazette 10.06.06
One Oxford Street building to get revamp; the Middle Eastern consortium, which bought 33, Cavendish Square from the BP Pension Fund plans to revamp half of the 500,000 sq ft block, which is one of Oxford Street’s principal buildings. The block (pictured right), which is close to Oxford Circus and next to John Lewis, contains the London College of Fashion at the podium level as well as a 100,000 sq ft BHS. A brochure prepared for the sale last year said that the floor space could be increased and used as residential, offices or a hotel. However Westminster Council said that the current discussions related to shops and offices. One idea is to reconfigure the BHS store to provide several major flagships. Estates Gazette 17.06.06
Plenty of action around the Tate Modern; plans for the extension to the Tate Modern and changes to the controversial development of a 200ft residential tower next to it have emerged. Plans for a £140m extension to the Tate Modern will be unveiled next month when Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss group, who designed the conversion of the old Bankside power station and have designed the Beijing Olympic stadium, will be appointed as the architects for what is being called Tate Modern 2. The new extension, which will double the gallery space of the Tate Modern, replaces an electricity substation on the south-west corner of the old power station. The new building will be in the form of what has been described as a “deconstructed ziggurat” rising 30 ft higher than the roof the old 1930s building. Visitors to the Tate Modern have been complaining of overcrowding and the gallery is already the world’s most popular modern art gallery. The new building will be largely funded by private donors with a relatively small amount of public funding. It will be used to house photography and video galleries. The Tate is also in talks with the Design Museum for a separate £50m gallery on a neighbouring site. Plans for a 200 ft tower on another neighbouring site in Hopton Street have been the subject of much controversy and it has now emerged that the owner of that site is in talks with the owner of the nearby Bankside 4 development on Holland Street about putting the two schemes together for a lower development across the two sites. Estates Gazette 10.06.06, Sunday Times 11.06.06
More South Bank news; P&O plan to lodge a planning application for the 177,000 sq ft Elizabeth House site next to Waterloo station in the autumn. The former offices of the Department of Education fronts on to York Road and the plans are for three towers- two for offices totaling 800,000 sq ft and a third residential tower. There will also be retail at ground floor level. Further west past Lambeth Bridge the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority have appointed agents to find developers for 8 Albert Embankment. The 2.5-acre site comprises of two blocks - the 1937 8-storey Grade 11 building facing the Tate Britain, which was the headquarters of the London Fire Brigade until they moved last year and a 1.5-acre rear site. Estates Gazette 17.06.06
‘Demolition of English Heritage HQ threatens Savile Row’; Legal & General, the owners of Fortress House, the former HQ of English Heritage in Savile Row, have rebuffed attempts to preserve the late-1940s building as a hotel. English Heritage are moving to Holborn this month and Legal & General then propose to move to demolition as a first step to redevelopment. The decision is being seen as another blow to the attempts to maintain Savile Row as the centre of English tailoring. It already faces rising rents and the arrival of other forms of retail. The street’s tailors, who employ 100 people in workrooms below and behind their shops, have recently formed an industry group called Savile Row Bespoke to protect its future. Westminster City Council has given the group their backing. Legal & general say that their proposed mixed retail and office scheme had been “warmly received” and was “of a demonstrably higher order of quality” in terms of design and architecture than the existing building. It also satisfied the criteria for a conservation area. Financial Times 09.06.06, Estates Gazette 10.06.06
Grapevine is produced twice monthly (except August and December when
there is one issue) by Brian Wright on behalf of GLE oneLondon.
Next issue on 6th July, 2006