The Thinkhouse review: reversing the decline of suburbs and town centres

Turning first to the Smith Institute’s report by Paul Hunter entitled The Unspoken Decline of Outer London which seeks to address the question of why poverty and inequality is increasing in outer London and what needs to change.

The report concludes that London’s approach to economic development in recent years has led to a growth of prosperity and value in inner London, with a corresponding decline in the outer boroughs.

As a result, the report concludes that 1.4 million people are living in poverty in outer London.

“A real theme of the report is on the creation of local jobs and a more vibrant localised economy – both are key targets in the wider topic of suburban and town centre regeneration”

This is primarily driven by the intensifying of pressure on housing costs and a decline in job density rates, which has corresponded with an increase in inner-London jobs.

The report makes a number of recommendations for future reform, including: the redirection of Crossrail 2 funding to support grown in outer London, the appointment of an outer London deputy mayor to lead an inclusive growth taskforce, and a clear focus on revitalising outer London town centres. A real theme of the report – and the outcome of the consultation with the focus groups – is on the creation of local jobs and a more vibrant localised economy – both are key targets in the wider topic of suburban and town centre regeneration.

A second short and colourful report, Reimagine Housing: Thinking Inside the Box, from KPMG looks at the same problem from a very different angle and suggests that the creation of temporary container villages could create a useful boost for local provision – whether it’s for housing or for small businesses.

The examples cited, such as the Hatch in Manchester and Cargo in Bristol, have so far focused very much on retail and restaurants which in turn support community events.

The KPMG thesis is to take that model and push it further to outer city or suburban areas and into alternative uses including housing for the homeless and low-income groups.

The report acknowledges the challenges in attracting the right interest – both from occupiers and landowners but does consider some useful initiatives including engaging volunteers in return for reduced rents.

The report does not go into the detail of how the container model might be utilised to provide a truly attractive housing model for such a varied group of occupants but does start to consider the question of funding.

In a similar vein, the Policy Exchange report written by Jack Airey and Richard Blakeway entitled Tomorrow’s Places chooses to look at the potential to build a generation of new millennial towns on the edge of London.

In seeking to tackle a similar issue to the Smith Institute report, the authors suggest that the current approach to housing delivery in London will inevitably fail the wider interests of society. They suggest an alternative approach based on creating new towns along the five updated London growth corridors.

This approach would create an expansion rather than an intensification of London using the main transport routes to drive growth.

“Each takes a slightly different approach while at the same time acknowledging a core policy objective of combining community engagement with the creation of attractive, functional spaces for the town centres of the future”

Development corporations - which are also being promoted more nationally in areas such as Stockport and Ebbsfleet – are proposed as the delivery vehicle in order to drive land acquisition, planning and partnership working with the private sector.

This proposal to create new towns at scale, with a minimum of 30,000 homes to be provided in each of the five areas, would require extensive development of employment and other amenity spaces to support growth.

The report suggests a new national approach to co-ordinate development of this type which also nods to the work being driven across the South East as well as the Midlands Engine and the Northern Powerhouse.

All of the three reports are suggesting a significant level of change in order to address the growing problem we are seeing in and around London – and also in the other major cities in the UK.

Each takes a slightly different approach while at the same time acknowledging a core policy objective of combining community engagement with the creation of attractive, functional spaces for the town centres of the future.

Suzanne Benson, partner, Trowers & Hamlins