Category: Economy and Planning

Just Space meets with Federation of Small Businesses and others to discuss ‘Business Involvement in Planning’

On 5 December 2013, Just Space Economy and Planning group held its 3rd discussion within the year-long series aiming to build capacity to engage in planning on economic issues in London (see Statement of Intent here). The focus was ‘Business Involvement in Planning’, with three rich presentations from Sue Terpilowski (Chairman of the London Policy Unit at the Federation of Small Businesses (dead link), Managing Director at Image Line and member of the London Enterprise Panel and London Business Network), Elena Besussi (UCL and Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum (link now dead)) and Michael Ball (Waterloo Community Development Group).

Discussions with the FSB focused on particular issues small businesses face in London, their representation in strategic planning processes, how businesses and residential communities can work together on planning and development processes, the need for debate on whether London wanted a micro- and small-business community in central London, and changes in the way we work and their implications for planning. Good links were made between the FSB and Just Space.

Discussions with Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum (download Elena’s presentation here) and Waterloo Community Development Forum focused on the value of industrial land and B and C class office space in central London, how small and ethnic businesses were represented within Business Improvement Districts (see useful information on BIDs here (Dead link)), the critical importance of involving businesses in campaigns such as Kings Cross, Waterloo, Peckham and Elephant and Castle, and the need to interrogate the term, ‘business’ in order for example to enable links to be made between residents and business issues, and to highlight where real estate interests were dominating. More work was needed to explore how Just Space could work with BIDs and other forms of business organisation, building on this initial discussion.

This discussion will feed into Just Space’ work to respond to the current consultation on the ‘Further Alterations to the London Plan’ (see here), as well as leading to further meetings and events, including on affordable workspace and social enterprise.

A detailed note of the meeting can be downloaded here.

25/02/2014
Questioning the London Enterprise Panel

Today (3/12/2013), the London Assembly Economy Committee questioned Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse about the London Enterprise Panel (dead link). Committee members questioned the narrow focus of the LEP, pressing the Mayor on issues such as debt, the green economy, childcare and inequality. Planning was notably absent from discussions.

With the LEP due to begin developing a revised long-term strategy in the new year, linked to the Mayor’s 2020 Vision for London (Dead link) and the forthcoming revisions to the London Plan in early 2014, it is likely to be an increasingly important body for Just Space members to engage with on economy and planning issues.

More in the ‘storify’ of twitter posts here (dead link), and the webcast here.

Checked by Michael Edwards 16 07 2025, Dead links labelled.

03/12/2013
Statement of Intent and Forward Programme

On Tuesday 22 October 2013, Just Space Economy and Planning met to continue our discussions about where we are going and what we are doing… A brief note can be accessed here.

This resulted in a provisional Statement of Intent for the group, which should be a useful starting point for anyone wanting to find out more about it.

We also discussed our draft Forward Programme. Our 3rd bi-monthly seminar will be on business involvement in planning (see initial note from George Turner) and our first public event on Making London Work, focussing on the loss of employment land. In the new year, we will turn to the theme of affordable workspace (see initial note from Ed Jones).

This post checked 16 07 2025 by Michael Edwards. Links still work. Valuable part of history of JS

28/11/2013
Planning London’s economies from the grassroots

Robin Brown (Hayes Community Forum) discusses how industrial land in Hayes is being re-used and re-developed, exposing a tension between the aims of the council (to attract people from other places) and the residential community (to secure access to jobs) in relation to economic development.

On 25 September 2013, Just Space Economy and Planning held its 2nd meeting, which aimed to bring together community and business-led campaigns and initiatives under the broad topic of ‘Planning London’s Economies from the Grassroots’. We heard from Hayes Community Forum (Robin Brown), Peckham Vision (Eileen Conn) and the East End Trades Guild (via UCL student, Anjuli Sethi). These inputs generated a rich discussion, in which examples of community and business engagement in planning in Waterloo (via the Waterloo Community Development Group, the Better Bankside Business Improvement District (BID) and the South Bank Employers’ Group) and in Greenwich (via the London Thames Gateway Forum) were introduced by Michael Ball and Roy Tindle respectively.

Some of the key issues raised were the loss of employment space in London and the relationship between the housing market and the rest of the economy; the difficulty planning and planning officers had in engaging with the messy, organic nature of London’s economies, and small businesses in particular; the dominance of big businesses and property developers in planning; and strategies and tactics for engaging in economic issues in planning. More detail in the note of the meeting here.

The richness of the discussion meant that we postponed discussion of our forward programme to a follow-up working meeting in October – more details to follow…

Checked by Michael Edwards 16 07 2025. Year 2013 added to date in para 1.

28/11/2013
Economy and Planning – Watch this (Just) Space…

This 2013 post is of historical interest: about the Just Space Economy & Planning Group.

New participants to Just Space Economy and Planning (JSEP) last month faced a daunting task, finding it hard to access information about the group’s aims and activities online. Oops! We are currently working to address this, making it easier for interested groups and individuals to find out more about JSEP and to get involved. Watch this space for a ‘Statement of Intent’, presentations and notes from our second meeting in September, and details of upcoming events. Our next seminar will be on business involvement in planning in London, towards end of November.

We use a email group (jseconomy at googlegroups.com) to keep in touch in between meetings – request an invite from myfanwy.taylor at gmail.com or directly via Google Groups (search for Just Space Economy and Planning).

Amended by Michael Edwards 16 July 2025, removing links to documents on our former wikispaces web site. Neither the site nor the documents exist.

04/11/2013
Economy Group
Read our news items in Economy and Planning Topics

About Just Space Economy and Planning Group (2013)

JSEP aims to build capacity within the Just Space network to influence planning policy in London on economic issues. A particular problem with the formulation of London’s economic strategy is the influence of groups such as London First and the City of London, who broadly represent dominant corporate interests. London has many other economies and economic sectors in play, with many sources of knowledge about them, both within communities and in universities. JSEP is seeking to connect up this knowledge, supporting the participation in planning on economic issues by a greater diversity of groups and interests.

Just Space Economy and Planning is presently focusing on the following issues:
- The targeting of growth: Opening up the targeting of London’s growth to greater
  
  public debate, asking questions such as whether such growth is sustainable; what
  
  sort of growth we might want and why; and exploring different growth scenarios.
- The loss of employment land: Exploring the impact of ways in which current planning policy supports the conversion of employment land to housing. This risks damaging London’s economy through shrinking the stock of employment land and raising the costs of employment space, pushing viable businesses out.
- The role of affordable workspace: Addressing the lack of understanding of the role and nature of affordable workspace, and lack of an evidence-base, as part of planning policy in London.
- Job quality: Exploring the potential role of public authorities including planning authorities in delivering quality jobs, as a response to the overwhelming focus on quantity.
- Involvement of local businesses and communities in planning: Working to support the involvement of a greater diversity of voices on economic issues in planning, in particular in order to make connections between usually-separated housing, transport, environmental and economic policies.
JSEP participants hold different views about the role of planning policy in London’s economic development, and the merits of their participation in it. While the group as a whole is committed to engaging in statutory consultation processes – on the London Plan, for example – others are focused on challenging the economic assumptions that underpin the Plan and to demonstrate that London First and the City of London do not represent all London’s economic interests. Many participants feel that it is imperative to build other ways of thinking about London’s economy and planning, in order to improve social, environmental and economic sustainability in the long term.

Currently, Just Space Economy and Planning’s main activities are bi-monthly seminars and termly public lectures. We are also developing our communications and publishing activity. To get involved, come along to our events, join our mailing list (jseconomy(at)googlegroups.com), check out this website, join our Facebook group (Just Space Economy and Planning), follow us on twitter ( @JustSpace7 ).

The group relies on the time, enthusiasm and interest of participants, so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in organizing activities.

This is old material 2013 but is retained as important in the history of Just Space.
25/09/2013