New research published today sets out how London Councils will play a key role in supporting the capital’s boroughs as they take more responsibility for developing local economies.
The research – Duty Free London? – looked at how nine boroughs are preparing to carry out the local economic assessments proposed in a government consultation.
These would involve looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the economy in each borough and gathering data about unemployment, skills, what sort of industries there are and how people travel to work.
It is unclear whether London authorities will be required to produce an assessment, but the boroughs polled in the study were keen to do so. To aid the assessment process, the report by Rocket Science UK Ltd concluded London Councils should:
- be the key link between boroughs and the government;
- work with the Greater London Authority to draw up a guide to the economic assessment setting out how success should be measured
- support boroughs by encouraging council departments to work more closely and looking at ways to analyse and present the information collected. Their achievements would be used to try and influence national policy.
As most of the boroughs are keen to work together on the economic assessments, the report suggests that London Councils, the boroughs, the Greater London Authority and London Development Agency start to discuss the most appropriate groupings.
London Councils corporate director for policy and public affairs, Dick Sorabji, said: ”This study offers a step by step approach to ensure that the new economic assessment duty on local government will add value in London boroughs. It is important that the duty is more than a paper exercise. It should support and enhance real gains in each of London’s diverse communities.
Creating a common language for collecting and analysing data will help London boroughs to work better together and increase local influence on pan-London and national policy”
The research found that inner London boroughs have generally allocated more staff and resources for economic development than outer London boroughs. However it also showed that just one of the nine boroughs asked has a dedicated economic development team covering the whole council. Other local authorities have currently split the work between planning, housing and regeneration departments.
The report sets out five main challenges to effective economic development:
* the cost of living and affordable housing
* people not in work
* lack of skills
* regenerating town centres
* working with other authorities and partners
Caroline Masundire, associate director of Rocket Science, said: “London’s economic prosperity is not shared by many communities across the capital.
“There can be stark differences between boroughs and neighbourhoods. The local economic assessment duty must be used to highlight these discrepancies and ensure economic growth is more evenly spread across London.”