Mayor announces £70m fund to support regeneration in London

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced a new £70 million regeneration programme to support growth and community development in London.

The Good Growth Fund is open now to a broad range of public, private and third-sector organisations including London boroughs, community groups and charities that drive regeneration in their local area.

The Mayor has launched the fund to help deliver the objective of Good Growth outlined in ‘A City For All Londoners’¹, his document which sets out plans to create a better city for all, where no community is left behind and where everyone has the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential.

Delivered in conjunction with the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP), Good Growth Fund will support projects that are inclusive, innovative and which demonstrate exemplary approaches to challenges faced across London. 

The Mayor is particularly focused on:

• ·         Empowering people by funding projects that will give Londoners the opportunity to actively participate in their local community and civic life.
• ·         Improving London’s places – its shopfronts, high streets, community and open spaces – by funding projects that are part of a long-term wider effort to improve a place, make better use of the spaces we already have and making places work harder to benefit more people. He also wants to see projects that improve Londoners’ health and wellbeing.
• ·         Growing prosperity by funding innovative projects that support specific industries and economic activity, create new jobs and places of work, and are accessible to the whole community. 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am delighted to be launching this fund and making a real push to challenge the preconceptions of how regeneration happens in the capital.

“I am calling on boroughs, community leaders, business organisations and the huge pool of London’s creative talent to bring forward their ideas. Using the ingenuity of this city, people’s enthusiasm and our wealth of expertise, I have no doubt that together we can deliver many engaging, exemplary and innovative projects.”

Delivered through the LEAP, the fund will support up to 50 per cent of the total project value, with the remainder covered by match funding from the applicant.

LEAP Board member, Dr Celia Caulcott, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside the Mayor to invest in regenerating spaces and make them better for all Londoners. Ensuring more first-class environments that reflect the realities of living and working in the city will help Londoners of all ages and backgrounds to feel they are part of their local communities, as well as improving their health and wellbeing.” 

Since he was elected in 2016, the Mayor has funded several regeneration schemes, including:

• ·         Thamesmead and Abbey Wood Incubator Campus – funded by the Mayor’s London Regeneration Fund (£1M) and Peabody (£1.742M).

Peabody are working in partnership with Bow Arts Trust and Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency to deliver affordable workspace and facilities that support the wider community as part of the plans to build new homes and rejuvenate Thamesmead. The iconic Lakeside Centre will be refurbished and fitted out to again become the focus of cultural and community life. The Lakeside Centre is planned to open by April 2018 and will offer 40 new affordable creative workspaces; an inviting and flexible space overlooking Southmere Lake for people to meet, eat, relax, work and learn; and an enterprise kitchen supporting production and training for new catering businesses. The project will also include a new day nursery, a gallery and project space as well as complementary public realm improvements to the route linking Abbey Wood station with the centre.

• ·         Centrepoint Café, Soho – received £42,000 funding through the Mayor’s Crowdfund London initiative, including a contribution of £20,000 from the Mayor.

Centrepoint has created a social enterprise café and event space for hire in the Dean Street building in which the charity for homeless young people opened its first hostel in 1969. Young people aged 16 to 25 will have the opportunity to receive training in the essentials of food hygiene and customer service, obtaining the qualifications and experience needed to secure work in London’s thriving food and hospitality economy. The welcoming and accessible café will be run by homeless young people, giving them the opportunity to integrate into their community in an active and positive way, gaining work experience. Research by The Economist and Pro-Bo Economics has shown Centrepoint’s intervention will lead to a potential benefit to the public purse of nearly £20,000 per young person.

For more information on the Good Growth Fund, visit www.london.gov.uk/good-growth-fund

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. A City for all Londoners outlines the Mayor’s plans to create a better city for all Londoners, where no community is left behind and where everyone has the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/city_for_all_londoners_nov_2016.pdf

2.  About the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP)

The London Economic Action Partnership brings entrepreneurs and business together with the Mayoralty and London Councils to identify strategic actions to support and lead economic growth and job creation in the capital.

It is Chaired by the Mayor, with the Deputy Mayor for Business, Rajesh Agrawal, taking on the role of Co-Deputy Chair alongside another Co-Deputy from the business community. The Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, Jules Pipe, also sits on the board, with the remaining members drawn from the London boroughs and businesses. There is also a new place for a trade union representative.

The eight business members – half of whom are women – bring a broad range of expertise in economic development as well as significant experience covering sectors from innovative tech start-ups to high-street retail, commercial land owners and creative industry.