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Publication type: General
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The rush to build new homes in London is threatening the availability and affordability of spaces for small business.
Businesses based on light industrial sites are under threat, especially manufacturing companies. The Mayor's projections imply that manufacturing could disappear completely from London by 2062.
Jenny published her report in February 2015 arguing that:
London’s flourishing manufacturing base is being squeezed out by the Mayor, who is in the pocket of big property developers. I’ve talked to viable businesses like brewers, bespoke makers and aerospace manufacturers that are threatened by the rush to build flats.
The Mayor has to look again at the huge and ongoing loss of industrial land, which he and the government want to push further. London can’t just be a city of accountants and cleaners, we need decent manual jobs that keep the city ticking over and we should be making more in London, not less.
Download the report - The end of industry in London?
The Mayor responded to Jenny's report in this letter.
The report was covered at the time by BBC London News.
End of industry in numbers
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750
Football pitches Industrial land the size of 750 football pitches was lost in 7 years
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2062
Industry dies The Mayor's Infrastructure Plan implies manufacturing will die by 2062
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129k
Jobs at risk Lots of people still work in manufacturing in London.
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2x
Profit Flipping industrial land to residential can double its value
Follow-up work
In February 2015, Jenny questioned the Deputy Mayor for Planning, Sir Edward Lister, about the worrying loss of industrial land in London, in light of the Mayor's proposed Further Alterations to the London Plan.
In March she then questioned the Mayor of London directly, raising the case of businesses in Hackney Wick being driven out by the Mayor's Olympic legacy agency.
In December 2015, Jenny asked the Mayor to review TfL's plans to redevelop a light industrial depot in Parsons Green, and to ensure small buisnesses had a strong voice in the evidence base review for the next London Plan:
If your business is under threat, please get in touch with Jenny.