London First

LONDON - THE ENGINE OF THE UK ECONOMY

@img@London First is a business membership body which champions London. Our members represent over 20 per cent of London's GDP - but many of them also do business the length and breadth of the UK. We regularly meet government, local and national, to talk about the issues that concern our members. But we are much, much more than lobbyists.

What distinguishes London First from other business organisations is that we do not simply come with questions, or even representations. We back government when it is right, but we tell it clearly and directly when it gets things wrong. We do not just complain and lobby - we seek and we deliver working solutions. That is why the Mayor of London, the GLA and national government are always interested in what we have to say.

It was work done by London First and others that persuaded the government to legislate for a mayor for London, which has changed the way the city (and some others) are governed. It was detailed work done by London First and its members that persuaded the Mayor of London that congestion charging was the best way of dealing with London's traffic problems and financing the improvements needed in public transport.

Just two examples of what London First does best - delivering working solutions to London's problems. But there is still a great deal to do.

I see the work of London First as falling into three categories - putting the case for London; building links to improve skills and education; and finally what might be best described as 'crime and grime'.

The case for London
There is a great myth around that London is subsidised by the rest of the country. The truth is the exact reverse - London contributes around £20bn every year to the rest of the UK. If London prospers, so does the rest of the UK. But if London sneezes and has less to contribute elsewhere, then the rest of the country is going to catch a bad cold. So the whole of the country has a real interest in a prosperous and thriving capital.

London is a great city - a magnet for businesses wanting to set up in the UK, with its financial institutions unrivalled in Europe. It is a great tourist centre, both for business tourists and for holidaymakers. It is also home and a place of work for several million people every day. London is the engine of the UK economy, but the engine will not keep running efficiently unless it has the right investment made in it. Without that, the engine will splutter and misfire.

As I write this, there are critical decisions waiting to be taken about Crossrail and whether a London-based Olympic bid should be made. And these are just the tip of the iceberg. London's public services need investment of around £110bn during the next 15 years. The largest sum is needed for transport - around £60bn for the tube, for airports, roads and rail. Housing needs up to £30bn for the thousands of new homes needed to cater for London's fast-growing population. Education will need over £10bn for primary, secondary, further and higher education. Lastly, London's health services will need an additional sum of £8bn or more to bring them up to European standards. This money cannot be delivered by the public sector alone; over half the money will need to be leveraged from the private sector using the PFI and other schemes to help find the money. And the longer it takes to start, the higher the ultimate cost.

The critical projects that would make major contributions to London include Crossrail, a new rail line running from west of London, through the centre of the city, and out to the east. This is a huge, multi-billion pound project, which will not only deliver improved transport for Londoners, but will also help generate a great deal of commercial development along with tens of thousands of new homes. It is no exaggeration to say that without this project there is little prospect of London getting the new homes it needs in the numbers it needs, and the numbers the government is demanding. Another major project is the Thames Gateway Bridge and the other east London river crossings, which would also provide tremendous transport improvements for people and business, as well as commercial and housing development. And, of course, there are the Olympics!

London First will continue to be at the forefront of making the case for all this investment, revising the proposals in the light of developments, and mobilising its members and the private sector generally to develop the solutions that will enable the money to be found and the investment made, as well as pressing local and national government to play their parts.

We have played a significant role in the planning arena, most recently bringing common sense into the Mayor's London Plan, by taking an active part in the Public Examination of the Draft Plan. We have also argued the case against reducing the time limit on planning consents to three years, and got commitments from the government that this will be no more than a guideline, with longer consents for more complex developments.

We have launched a Sustainability Index, which measures London's performance against a range of environmental, economic and social criteria as part of a campaign to make London the world's most sustainable city. We now plan to extend the Index to measure some of London's international competitors.

Skills and training
But none of this will mean anything if we do not have the skills and training in place. From architects, planners and engineers, to the public-sector managers, teachers and construction workers, many thousands of skilled workers are going to need to be found and trained.

We have already established an exciting new initiative, Teach First, which takes some of the brightest of Britain's graduates and places them in London's toughest inner-city schools for two years. This scheme, devised by London First, has the support of the highest levels of the British government and is, in its first year, hugely oversubscribed. We are also scaling up a scheme for summer internships, in which students, especially from diverse backgrounds, get placements at London businesses.

On the business training front, earlier this year we produced, in association with the National Anti-Terrorist Office, a video and booklet giving companies guidance on planning effectively how to handle business-threatening emergencies, whether from terrorism or other threats such as fire or flood.

'Crime and grime'
These are the factors that make living in London a great experience - or not, as the case may be. The safety and cleanliness of our streets and the general environment in which we all live are key issues and we are already at the forefront here. In the heart of London, we founded the New West End Company. Among other things, it has paid to put uniformed patrols on the streets in support of the police, which has led directly to a substantial fall in street crime in London's busiest shopping streets.

We have also been working with the police to help them operate more efficiently. We have found and placed top business mentors with some of the most senior police in the Met and in the City of London Police, as well as with most of London's Borough Commanders. This is really making a difference - the police tell us so.

We take the lead in environmental issues too. We have set up London Waste Action and London Remade, both bringing the public and private sectors together. The former is working to reduce landfill and helping local authorities meet their recycling targets. London Remade is working to make London more sustainable, not only through recycling but also through a wide range of environmental initiatives. We have also established a new 'green' economy network of large and small companies.

What makes us different, and what will go on being different about us, is that we do not simply write papers and publish them. Our greatest successes come when we accurately identify risks or opportunities and then, with our members, move whatever mountains stand in the way of delivery. We seek - and find - ways to make things happen. We bring government and business together to work out practical solutions and then we find the way to deliver them. We create networks to bring large and small businesses together to the benefit of both; we now run networks in the creative industries sector, in biotechnology, in healthcare and in the new economy.

That is what London First is about: championing London as Britain's brand leader, acting as the business voice of London, creating effective networks and being a catalyst for change. Today, London is a great city; our job is to play our part in ensuring that it is at least as great at the end of the next decade. The planning for that has already begun.

Supplied by courtesy of Jo Valentine, Chief Executive, London First