2014 utzon lecture series - governing london: progress and prospects by professor john tomaney
TRANSCRIPT
Governing London
John Tomaney
Utzon Lecture, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 3 September 2014
London Sydney
• Established: 1788
• Area
– 12,367.7 km2 (4,775.2 sq mi)
• Population (2013)
– 4,757,083 (380/km2 [980/sq
mi])
• Government
– (State government agencies)
– 38 LGA(s)
• Established: c. 43 AD
• Area
– 606.95 sq mi (1,572.00 km2)
• Population (2013)
– 8,416,535 (13,870/sq mi
[5,354/km2])
• Government
– Mayor (Boris Johnson)
– London Assembly (25
Members)
– 32 London Boroughs
Outline
• Urban governance and urban development• London in the UK• London – a global city• Socioeconomic and spatial change in London• Governing London• Planning London• Urban governance and urban development
Urban governance and urban development
• Interdependencies and externalities alongside fragmentation of jurisdictions + mismatch in scale of need and scale of governance = “ungovernable metropolis” (e.g. Storper)
• Financial and fiscal strains (e.g. Streeck, Blyth)• “Democratic distemper” (e.g. The Economist,
Crouch)• What difference does a metro mayor make?
See: Michael Storper (2013) “Governing the large metropolis”, Working Papers du Programme Cities are back on town, 2013/7. Paris: Sciences Po; W Streeck and A Schafer (2013) Politics in the Age of Austerity. Cambridge: Polity; M Blyth (2013) Austerity. Oxford: OUP; The Economist, “What’s gone wrong with democracy?”, 21 March 2013; Colin Crouch (2004) Post-democracy, Cambridge: Polity.
London in the UK
Source: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/12/vince-cable-london-is-becoming-a-kind-of-giant-suction-machine/
In England administration has remained with fair constancy at Westminster, near enough to the centre of the country. Wealth has always come into England by the Thames at London. At any rate in later centuries, the tendency has been for the Administration to settle near the centres of wealth and the combined attractions have made the tract of marsh and flat ground in the lower basin of the river the centre of the Arts, of the Industries, of the Recreations and of the moral ‘tone’, not for England alone but for wider regions of the earth
- Ford Madox Ford (1905) The Soul of London. JM Dent
London in the UK
-26.0
-21.0
-16.0
-11.0
-6.0
-1.0
4.0
9.0
14.0
19.0
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
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2003
2004
2005
% d
evia
tio
n f
rom
UK
rea
l GV
A p
.h.
WAL NE NI YH NW WM EM SW SCOT GSE GSE 20.7%
SCOT -4.5%
SW -5.5%
EM -6.8%
WM -10.5%
NW -12.4%
YH -12.6%
NI -19.4%
NE -20.9%
WAL -22.0%
UK=0
Relative (headline) GVA per head, 1968-2005, UK regions
Source: Author’s elaboration of ONS data
Commuting patterns in the London/South East England Mega-City-Region
Source: GaWC Research Bulletin 307
London – a global city
Niels Møller Lund, The Heart of the Empire, 1904, Oil on canvas, 137 x 183 cm, Collection: City of London Corporation
London – a global city
The Global Financial Centres Index September 2012
Source: Qatar Financial Centre Authority/Long Finance (http://www.longfinance.net/Publications/GFCI%2012.pdf)
Socioeconomic and spatial change in London
• Demographic shifts• Socio-spatial polarisation• Austerity
Governing London: the problem
• Choosing the most appropriate governmental framework of London has always been problematic
“Governing London is a complex business. The city's vast population, its geography and history conspire to make the British capital an unusually difficult place to govern… The regularity with which London's government is reorganised suggests there is something unusual about the pressures that affect successive systems” (Travers 2004).
• Reforms often reflect power plays between different economic and political actors as the search for solutions to agreed problems
Source: Ford Madox Brown, Work, 1865, Oil on canva, Manchester City Art Gallery
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819 - 1891), standing top right, views the Northern Outfall sewer being built below the Abbey Mills pumping station. Photo: Otto Herschan, 1869
Governing London: historyLondon County Council (LCC) (1888 – 1964)
Greater London Council (GLC) (1964 – 1986)
No strategic regional governance
Greater London Authority (GLA) (2000 – )
Yes: 72%No: 28%
Turnout: 34%
Governing London: Greater London Authority referendum, 1998
Are you in favour of the Government's proposals for a Greater London Authority, made up of an elected mayor and a separately elected assembly?
Results by Borough
Governing London: Who Runs London?
GLA
•Strategic Authority•Elected Mayor•London Assembly•600+ paid officers
Mayor
•Promotes economic, social & environmental development•Prepares plans & policies for sustainable development
Assembly
•25 elected members (11 city wide & 14 constituencies)•Overview & scrutiny function
Boroughs
•32 boroughs & City of London•Responsible for running local public services•Local planning authorities
Central Government
•Provides funding to Mayor, TfL and boroughs•Sets legislative & regulatory framework
Governing London: the GLA Group (2000 – 2010)
Greater London Authority
London Development Agency
Transport for London
London Fire and Emergency Planning
AuthorityMetropolitan Police Authority
Olympic Delivery Authority
Governing London: Sponsored Bodies (Pre 2010)
London Climate Change Agency
Design for
London
Think London
Study London
Governing London: The GLA Group (Post 2010)
Greater London
Authority
London Legacy Development
Agency/Mayoral Development Agency
Transport for London
London Fire and Emergency
Planning AuthorityMayor’s Office for Policing and
Crime
Planning London: division of responsibilitiesMay
or
Boroughs
Asse
mbly
• Sets strategic planning framework (London Plan)
• Determines compliance with London Plan
• Right to direct refusal or determine strategic applications
• Boroughs are Local Planning Authorities
• Prepare Local Development Frameworks for area
• Required to consult Mayor on strategic applications and LDF documents
• Scrutiny function• Standing
Planning and Housing committee
• Undertakes targeted reviews and investigations
• Publishes advice and recommendations
Planning London: the London Plan
• A long term plan for London?• Politics and plan-making
– Livingstone, Johnson
• Strategy and delivery• Innovation and success?
Planning London: the London Plan
• Intended to provide a strategic framework for the long term sustainable growth of London
• However, 3 versions in 12 years and numerous draft and replacement policies
• “All strategy and no action”?• Heavily influenced by political leadership and national
policy environment• ‘Personalised planning’
Planning London: do mayors matter?
Livingstone Plan• Central ‘World City’ vision with
London as driver of national economy
• Makes case for additional national investment
• Strong focus on sustainable development
• Polycentric development with identified ‘opportunity areas’
• Looks east – particularly to the Thames Gateway as growth area
• Prescriptive policies and guidance to boroughs
Johnson Plan• ‘World City’ narrative less central
and vision more dispersed and less strategic
• Recognises importance of sustainability but gentler language
• More focus on less defined notions of ‘quality of life’ and the experience of London
• Less prescriptive, more collaborative approach giving boroughs flexibility to interpret
• Concerns that flexibility on targets and sustainability make it a ‘charter for money-hungry developers’
See: Holman (2010): The Changing Nature of the London PlanSource: Holman, N (2010) The changing nature of the London Plan In: Scanlon, Kath and Kochan, Ben, (eds.) London: coping with austerity. LSE London, London School of Economics
Planning London: key issues
1. Housing
2. Transport and infrastructure
3. “Regeneration”
4. Economic performance
5. London Infrastructure Plan
Source: Osborne, H (2014) “Poor doors: the segregation of London's inner-city flat dwellers”, The Guardian, 25.7.14http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/25/poor-doors-segregation-london-flats
Section 106 and Affordable Housing “Poor Doors”
Source: Savills using DCLG data and HSSA data
Passenger journeys on local bus services since 1985/86
Source: Department for Transport data in IPPR (2014) Greasing The Wheels Getting Our Bus And Rail Markets On The Move (http://www.ippr.org/assets/media/publications/pdf/greasing-the-wheels_Aug2014.pdf)
The impact of the arrival on Crossrail oncentral London commercial property prices
Average Price per Square Foot
% uplift
Average Price per Square Foot
% uplift
Before Crossrail Bill 2005
AfterCrossrail Bill 2005
Before Crossrail Construction 2009
After Crossrail Construction 2009
Within half mile
£471.96 £725.69 54% £594.92 £741.33 25%
Outside half mile
£447.95 £621.57 39% £533.09 £626.92 18%
Difference £24.01 £104.12 15% £61.83 £114.40 7%
Source: R Thompson (2014) The Crossrail Effect. The Impact of the Arrival on Crossrail on Central London Commercial Property Prices (http://londonfirst.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LF_CROSSRAIL2_REPORT_2014_Single_Pages.pdf )
Source: Centre for Cities/McKinsey (2014) Industrial revolutions: capturing the growth potential. (http://www.centreforcities.org/assets/files/2014/14-06-26-Final-web-Industrial-Revolutions.pdf)
Source: Centre for Cities/McKinsey (2014) Industrial revolutions: capturing the growth potential. (http://www.centreforcities.org/assets/files/2014/14-06-26-Final-web-Industrial-Revolutions.pdf)
Source: https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/business-economy/vision-and-strategy/infrastructure-plan-2050
London Infrastructure Plan
Projected capital expenditure requirement by sector (including enhancements and renewals), 2016-2050 (£ billion). 2014 prices
Source: Arup/GLA The cost of London's long-term infrastructure. July 2014. (https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/The%20cost%20of%20London%27s%20long-term%20infrastructure%20by%20Arup.pdf)
Urban governance and urban development
• Global cities as national champions?– An imbalanced national political economy?
• Mismatched planning institutions?– London versus the mega-region
• Public investment and private returns?– What price inequality and liveability?
• Do Mayors make a difference?– Thin narrow conception of democracy?
Politicians often lament the divide between the rich south and the poor north of England. They are being sloppy. What is really happening is that a few cities are pulling ahead of the rest of the country. They are indeed like vacuum cleaners, sucking in talented people, highly paid jobs, government investment and, lately, power.
London has achieved all this without being especially well run. This is no slight to Boris Johnson, the city’s ambitious mayor; he simply does not have much power. London’s 33 boroughs collectively have greater heft, but even they do not have much. The most important decisions about London are made by the national government in Westminster.
Scarce resources should go where they will generate the greatest returns. Trying to resist the agglomeration effects of big cities is not just a waste: it is actively harmful to Britain’s economy.
Source: The Economist , 9.11.13
Source: Pickford, J (2014) “Recovery likely to widen wealth gap between London and regions”, Financial Times, 19th January
London poverty was already becoming more suburban and more diffuse even as income inequality in the city rose [during the 2000s]
- Centre for Analysis for Social Exclusion (2012) (
Source: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/poverty-housing-london-fenton/
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2012/aug/01/boris-johnson-stuck-zip-wire-video
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)