Following the Mayor’s London Growth Plan, we highlight the opportunity for boroughs and their partners to take an inclusion-first approach to the capital’s major growth sectors such as life sciences.
As London plans for growth, decision-makers should take an “inclusion-first” approach to ensure that economic development benefits every community, according to a new report from Future of London.
Through a series of stakeholder events, we found that “inclusive growth” is often used to describe initiatives that put economic expansion first in the hope that redistribution and fairness will follow. Here highlight the findings of our inquiry into life sciences clusters, and further down the page take a visit to the construction skills academy at Meridian Water in Enfield.
Download the report
Inclusion-first Growth: Why London's economic plan must work for everyone
Our report, Inclusion-first Growth, is published shortly after the Mayor published the London Growth Plan and provides practical strategy and case studies to support action. We see the growth plan as an opportunity for local government to develop inclusive economic strategies that reshape economic structures and embed fairness from the start.
“The London Growth Plan challenges the capital to prove the power of inclusion in a global market,” says report author, Hailey Sockalingam.
“If London wants to rise to the challenge, boroughs must create clearer pathways for the private sector to drive meaningful inclusion – ensuring that growth translates into shared prosperity for all.”
Local authority inclusion initiatives often depend on securing private sector investment first. However our discussions highlighted the risk that inclusion becomes an add-on rather than embedding inclusivity in the project.
The Old Street tech boom showed that high-value growth alone may not raise the level of well-being for local people. Participants at our roundtable event agreed the failure to include all parts of the community must not be repeated in London’s growth sectors such as life sciences, the green economy and creative industries.
Overcoming exclusion in the life science sector
The report focuses on the life sciences sector, a key pillar of London’s economy and a “frontier innovation” priority in the London Growth Plan. However life sciences remains an exclusive sector.
Only 9% of professionals come from working-class backgrounds, and fewer than 1% are Black, according to figures in a Science Industry Partnership report on inclusion in life sciences.
“Inclusive economic approaches must be multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder,” says Jasmine Ceccarelli-Drewry, Associate at Montagu Evans.
“The built environment sector tends to view life science developments through an economic lens – forgetting this is just another part of the city that residents should influence.”
Jasmine Ceccarelli-Drewry of Montagu Evans on how
the life sciences sector can become more inclusive
We recommend that London boroughs work together to incentivise better private-sector collaboration in growth sectors. Businesses don’t limit their operations to borough boundaries so local authorities must provide a consistent partnership experience across London to engage the private sector effectively.
Targeting workforce skills development at Meridian Water
Inclusion must be planned through targeted workforce development with support for people who face multiple barriers to work, such as disability. We visited the Enfield Construction Skills Academy to see how skills development is used to develop an inclusive economy around Meridian Water.
The skills academy offers free taster courses to help individuals develop the skills needed for the construction sector. A partnership between Enfield Council, Capital City College and Countryside Partnerships, the academy shows that inclusive skills is more than just jobs: students benefit from the opportunity to forge strong social connections.
We found local authorities could enhance the impact of apprenticeship schemes by removing the standard requirement that apprentices must live locally. This restrictions limits career progression when contractors move on to new sites, according to Caroline Richardson, Social Value Manager at Countryside Partnerships.
Yẹmí Aládérun of Enfield Council explains how investing
in construction skills helps to develop an inclusive economy
Resolving the tensions in developing economic inclusion
The report highlights four tensions in implementing economic inclusion:
- prioritising inclusivity vs growth
- delivering an intersectional approach vs targeted initiatives
- navigating global ambitions vs local action
- encouraging greater borough collaboration vs business as usual
We hope that shining a light on these delivery tensions catalyses conversations that help to forge a new way forward.
“The built environment must use its unique place-based lens to connect economic inequity to broader factors that enable economic participation, such as housing, health, digital infrastructure and the environment,” the report concludes.
“Economic inclusion is one part of a broader picture: residents should feel a sense of agency over the places where they live.”
The Inclusive Economies programme is supported by Countryside Partnerships and Montagu Evans.
