Our headlines on Productivity, Property, Place, People, Pandemic (Perspectives and Precedents)
Minutes:
The Partnership received a presentation from Hal Khanom, LBB Head of Economic Development, providing a summary of the initial findings of the Economic Evidence Study undertaken by Avison Young.
As mentioned at the last meeting, Avison Young were commissioned by the London Borough of Bromley to provide quantitative and qualitative insights into the borough’s economic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The evidence provided detailed insights on a wide range of economic, social and commercial topics, and was structured around seven key themes:
1. Productivity – Bromley’s business and employment base;
2. Property – Bromley’s office and industrial markets;
3. Place – Bromley’s places, town centres and infrastructure;
4. People – Bromley’s residents and labour market;
5. Pandemic – Bromley’s resilience and recovery;
6. Perspectives – Bromley’s business needs, trends and plans; and,
7. Precedents – learning from elsewhere.
The Bromley Economic Partnership would play an important role in economic development, as it involved bringing partners and resources together to stimulate the economy of a local area. There were six key roles that a local authority could take in the process as set out below:
1. Anchor – using council funding (e.g. via procurement processes) or powers (e.g. via planning policies) to support local business activity and deliver social value;
2. Facilitator – bringing businesses, organisations and groups together to collaborate on projects or to develop innovative new ideas that support economic growth and improve livelihoods;
3. Advocate – championing a local area at a regional and national level to ensure policies, projects and funding support and benefit local businesses, workers and residents;
4. Marketer – attracting businesses, start-ups and third sector organisations to an area by communicating the locational benefits of the area and brokering relationships between important players;
5. Commissioner – procuring services (e.g. relating to business support or adult education) to support economic development and securing public and private investment to pay for it; and,
6. Deliverer – actively delivering physical and non-physical projects that support economic development ambitions.
The LBB Head of Economic Development noted that the evidence indicated that Bromley had significant potential to grow its economy, and a number of strengths that could be built upon, including connectivity and its industrial and office-based clusters. In terms of opportunities, Bromley’s economy had scope to increase its productivity; accelerate the pace of economic growth; diversifying its sector mix; safeguard higher value employment sectors; increase worker earnings which could lead to increased local spending power; increase the industrial provision; increase the office market; and reduce vacancies on the high street by diversifying uses. There were also a wide range of other challenges that influenced Bromley’s economic performance – higher education provisions could accelerate growth and the shift of commuting habits could support talent retention. It was highlighted that there were also critical infrastructure and space challenges – parts of Bromley were cut off from efficient public transport connections and lobbying needed to continue. Compared to some neighbouring borough there was a lack of space, outside of Bromley town centre, for entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses.
The LBB Head of Economic Development noted that business engagement with key sectors was ongoing. The full report was due to completed in August, after which findings could be circulated. The initial findings had already been fed into grant applications and would help inform the economic evidence required for the Local Plan review.
In response to a question from Lee Thomas – Fairlight Group, the LBB Head of Economic Development advised that, as the Partnership led on economic development, the summary was being provided to them first. Round table discussions with representatives from various sectors would be held in the coming weeks, and would feed into the finalised report – this would then be shared with internal stakeholders, including Members and staff. The Chairman noted that the Economic Development Team was now fully funded, and conversations had been held with the Leader of the Council regarding what they were looking to achieve. There was further work to be undertaken to draw this work to the attention of Members, and the report would be disseminated and discussed with them.
Louise Wolsey – London South East Colleges (LSEC), highlighted that there had been a number of government policy changes relating to the skills agenda, and from 2025 people would have a lifelong learning entitlement loan. This would provide individuals with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of four years of post-18 education to use over their lifetime. It would be available for both modular and full-time study at higher technical and degree levels (levels 4 to 6). This presented a huge opportunity, as LSEC already provided a university centre in the borough which delivered degrees – they would like to work with the Local Authority and leading businesses within the growth sectors to discuss what future provision was required.
The Chairman asked about the aspirations for LSEC’s Orpington Campus. Ms Wolsey advised that, over the last few years, a review of the site had been undertaken – they wanted to continue to “play their role” in Orpington as best they could, and the higher education provision would be moved from Bromley into the O-zone Building of the Orpington Campus. This would allow the Bromley Campus to be further developed to deliver the 14-18 provision, and also provided the adult higher education learners a university-type experience in the town centre during the afternoon and evening. It was noted that the rest of the Orpington Campus would be kept under review, and options may be considered to support strategic partners with the redevelopment of the town centre.
The Vice-Chairman highlighted that for London Biggin Hill Airport, the skill base remained an issue, particularly with growing MROs (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul), such as Bombardier. They provided fantastic job opportunities and there was a need to ensure that engineers were trained – there were issues in terms of recruitment, and ultimately they would be recruited from further afield if they could not “grown their own”. With regards to global connectivity, there had been a huge shift since the COVID-19 pandemic in businesses moving from first class to business class, and realising the opportunities that business aviation offered. It was highlighted that business aviation provided a form of global connectivity and as a result there was a substantial increase in aircrafts – companies would be looking for business and office locations, which provided a fantastic opportunity for Bromley to capitalise on this economic growth. In response to a question from the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman said that they had held extensive discussions with LSEC regarding their requirements for talent, and had looked to deliver a college. Ms Wolsey said that the team at London Biggin Hill Airport had been supportive throughout the process – there had been ongoing dialogue for a number of years, and they remained committed to trying to deliver the skills required by the Airport, Bombardier and other businesses. There had been challenges with the project to deliver a college, but they looked forward to providing an update to the Airport later in the summer, once a response was received from the Greater London Authority (GLA) regarding options going forward.
The Vice-Chairman noted that a key issue for customers was sustainability, and it has highlighted that the majority of aircrafts at London Biggin Hill Airport did short range flights. There was the potential to move into electric aviation, which would help to improve the environment and would be beneficial in terms of noise implications. However the Local Authority would need to be “ahead of the game” to assist in relation to having a sustainable infrastructure in place for the future.
Russell Clarke – Sundridge Investments Limited asked what the next steps would be, and queried what the process was for ensuring that it was delivered within a reasonable timeframe. It was considered that an overriding member of senior management, who was easily contactable for informal discussions around opportunities for development and economic improvements, was needed. The Chairman highlighted that there were no ways round the planning process that the Local Authority had to follow. However both the LBB Head of Economic Development and herself would be willing to have informal conversations regarding opportunities, but they would not be able to provide any formal answers. The Chairman advised that the evidence study would inform policy documents, the key one being the Local Plan. Once this was implemented from 2024, it would form the framework for what the Local Authority did in terms of the built environment, and which areas would be designated for intensification of industrial, office clusters, and the ad hoc requirement for flexible working space. Mr Clarke noted that the implementation of the Local Plan was a couple of years away, and emphasised that actions needed to be taken as quickly as possible. It was considered that, over the years, planning applications had become much more bureaucratic and costly which had reduced the number of scheme that he was willing to be involved in. The LBB Head of Planning Policy and Strategy said that there was some scope to reflect things locally, however the processes were determined by the National Planning Policy Framework. The LBB Head of Economic Development advised that the team provided comments to the Planning Department on applications – these would be based on the evidence provided in the report, and allowed them to give a steer.
Mike Humphries – Handelsbanken noted that developers were looking at property deals outside of the borough. It was considered that it may be beneficial for the LBB Head of Economic Development to speak with other local London boroughs regarding how developers got their schemes through planning. The Chairman advised that the only difference between Bromley and other London boroughs would be the Local Plan, and members of the Partnership would have an opportunity to shape this document in the coming months.
Mr Thomas highlighted that continuity was required – it was good to see that the Local Authority was being both qualitative and quantitative about the needs in order to get people on board. The Chairman noted that an Economic Development Strategy had been devised, with external evidence now in place to support it, and there was a growing momentum behind this work.
The Chairman thanked the LBB Head of Economic Development for her presentation to the Partnership.