ADD2396 GLA financial contribution to the London 2050 Project

The London 2050 project, led by the Centre for London (CfL), is the first major strategic review of the capital in almost thirty years. The precedent for the review is the London World City Report commissioned by the London Planning Advisory Committee with the City of Westminster and the Corporation of the City, and published in 1991.

London is a successful global city, frequently topping global city indices from liveability and soft power to universities and creativity. It is a recognised world leader in investment and regeneration. And it has an international reputation for tolerance, having been able to maintain cohesion and shared identities in the face of high levels of migration and increasing diversity.

However, this success has brought some challenges in the form of congestion, high house prices and insufficient supply, increased in-work poverty, and a deepening of wage inequality. The economic disparity between London and the rest of the UK has also grown. There are also substantial contextual challenges, from climate change to the changing global economy and international order, and from the potential impacts of Brexit to continued population growth.

The Centre for London’s ambition for its 2050 project, which will be delivered in three stages, is to develop a new vision and strategy for London’s future, based on the city’s enduring values and changing challenges, and on extensive public and expert engagement.

This project is of strategic importance to London and London government as it will facilitate horizon-scanning that will enable the Mayor and the GLA to develop a robust long-term plan for the capital’s growth and prosperity, and to address identified challenges. The GLA’s involvement is expected to take the form of: providing to CfL access to expertise within the City Intelligence Unit, including the potential to commission discrete pieces of research, and to Talk London, the GLA’s online community, to test opinions about options, scenarios and directions of travel.

The benefits of the GLA’s contribution are that it would be designated a founding project partner, and a GLA nominee will be invited to sit on the advisory council to help shape the scope, narrative and development of the next phase of the project so that it generates the most relevant insight for London’s future development.

The objectives of Stage 1 of the project are to deliver by Summer 2020:

• an issues paper setting out the challenges facing London over the next 30 years, potential scenarios and case studies of how other cities are responding;

• a governance proposal and engagement strategy for Stage 2 (vision and strategy development); and a diverse coalition of fundraisers and supporters to take the programme forward.

The review will be looking at current trends in terms of equalities and cohesion, and at impacts of different future scenarios through various different lenses, one of which will be equity. This will then inform a review of what types of actions might be needed to mitigate or address those impacts (where they are inequitable).

a) key risks and issues

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The Mayor’s draft new London Plan shapes how London evolves and develops over coming years and serves as a blueprint for the future development of sustainable, inclusive growth of the capital. The draft new Plan runs from 2019 to 2041, and is intended to provide a long-term view of London’s development to inform decision-making. The Mayor is required to keep the plan under review. This strategic review, which is intended to look forward to 2050, will generate new thinking around high-level responses to the big challenges that London faces that will inform any reviews of the London Plan. The project also aims to mobilise an alliance of stakeholders and Londoners across the public and private sectors, and civil society to take positive and proactive action to help deliver a new set of long-term priorities together.

c) consultations and impact assessments

The GLA’s City Intelligence Unit (CIU) has been consulted about the project and is supportive. The Mayor’s Director of Policy and the Chief Officer have also been consulted and have given their approval to GLA’s involvement in the project and making a financial contribution to Stage 1 of the project.

There are no conflicts of interest arising from this decision.

This approval requests that the Assistant Director of Strategy, Intelligence and Analysis approves GLA financial contribution of £20,000 towards delivery of Stage 1 of the London 2050 project that is to be undertaken by the Centre for London (CfL). GLA’s financial contribution of £20,000 in 2019/20 will be funded from its central corporate contingency budget.

CfL estimates that the total budget for all three stages of the project is likely to be in the range of £475,000 and the GLA will give consideration, in due course, to contributing to further stages of the project, subject to budget availability and further approval via the Authority’s approval process.