Outer London Commission Responce

Outer London
Commission
Consultation response
Economic
Outer London employment principally relates to the provision of local services
(e.g. retail, health, education etc) which in turn are driven by the absolute
level and changes in the level and composition of population. Central London
employment is driven by the growth in regional, national and internationally
focused businesses and services. Capacity constraints (property and to a lesser
extent transport) has led some of this employment to spill out into parts of
inner London. Employment growth in inner and central London is driven by the
general growth in the economy. Agglomeration economics shows that this is
the optimal way for economic growth to be supported within a city context.
If employment growth beyond that related to population growth is to be

encouraged in outer London then it needs to build upon particular comparative
advantages such as Heathrow Airport or around developments such as a strong
university campus that will provide a long term anchor to sustain and grow
employment in the future. Forcing employment out of inner London through
planning policies or trying to create competing employment hubs in outer
London will in the long run be detrimental to London’s economy. The failure of
previous attempts to build up outer London office centres highlights this point.
Another area where employment growth can be sustained is through the

major retail hubs in outer London which also offer a leisure product. Retail is
becoming concentrated in a few major centres that can offer consumers the
range of offer they want. Comparison shopping is now a leisure activity and the
ability of a few key centres to offer a full day out experience will give them a
comparative advantage.
Quality of life
There needs to be a radical improvement in the quality of major centres in
outer London. This relates to the quality of the public realm and improving
the leisure and retail offers within the majority of centres. Across most centres
there is a need for greater emphasis to be given to the person rather than to
traffic. Wholesale pedestrianisation or at least the removal of the vast majority
of traffic during shopping hours needs to be implemented. In the longer term if
road user charging is introduced the money could be used to build underpasses
avoiding key high streets thereby transforming the nature of our outer London
centres.
Transport
Traffic
Development
Planning
Urban Design
Economics
Market Research colinbuchanan.com
High density housing need not be high rise housing or the ubiquitous block
of one to two bed apartments. The use of terrace housing with private rear
gardens is an ideal high density family friendly housing solution combined with
mansion style housing. The outer boroughs need to be aspiring to the quality of
housing and public realm as is achieved in parts of Notting Hill and Kensington
& Chelsea which have some of the highest population densities in London.
Quality of education, the availability of green and community spaces,

high levels of security and the sense of community are key elements to
achieving quality of place and life. Again there is a need to put people first in
developments and to use public assets much more effectively to the benefit of
the wider community – e.g. schools and places of worship which spend most of
their time closed.
Transport
A radical change in approach is needed to transport in outer London. It is
apparent from the failure to implement any major tram schemes over the last
ten years that transport provision in outer London will be limited to improving
existing transport infrastructure rather than providing new, opening up the
market and providing safer alternatives to car use.
The take over by TfL of the North London line demonstrates what can be
achieved on the existing rail network – passenger and revenue growth has been
in double figures due in part to better revenue protection (gating), security (all
day staffing) and environment (deep clean of stations). We would propose that
local rail services in outer London are taken over by TfL with all stations gated
and staffed during the operating day. This could be revenue neutral – most
uplift in patronage is off-peak as people are encouraged to use the system at
quiet times because it is now perceived as safer, crime is greatly reduced on a
gated system reducing the cost of vandalism and revenue protection pays for
the additional staffing.
Orbital rail trips in south London are possible (e.g. Bromley to Wimbledon)
but little used as they are perceived as complex and involve changing at
“quiet” stations outside the peak. Better advertising of connections and
staffing of interchanges will help to improve connectivity between key outer
London centres without the need for new costly infrastructure. Improved
interconnectivity can also be achieved by a network of express bus services
linking key outer London centres along the lines of the X26 – these can be
market tested by the private sector as a way of moving to some deregulation of
bus services in outer London.
Transport
Traffic
Development
Planning
Urban Design
Economics
Rather than developing cycle routes between outer London centres where
demand is always likely to be limited resources should be concentrated on
ensuring that 15 minute isochrones around key town centres are permeable for
people and cyclists. This is where there is the greatest opportunity for walking
and cycling. Better provision of cycle parking (in terms of quantum and security)
is needed and the central London cycle hire scheme needs to be rolled out in
key outer London centres.
Now mini-cabs and drivers are fully licensed and regulated the discrimination
between taxis and mini-cabs in terms of use of bus lanes should be abolished.
Mini-cabs are widely used in outer London by those who do not own cars while
taxis are generally rarely seen.
Real safe cycle and walking routes need to be established to and from schools.
What we propose is a radical change from the present system. We propose a
pilot based on a large outer London secondary school where within the walking
and cycling catchment area of the school, children receive absolute priority on
the network in the period before and after school operates (although this is
complicated by the extended school day). In practice this would mean
 dedicated cycle lanes on main roads (the width of a full lane) where alterna-
tive safe routes on non-main roads cannot be achieved
 a camera enforced 20mph speed limit on all routes used by children on the
way to and from school – using average speed and absolute speed cameras
 signalised pedestrian crossing turning green for pedestrians within 10s of the
pedestrian button being pressed
Traffic management also needs to be far more radical in terms of:

 widespread introduction of average speed cameras and 20mph limits in
residential areas
 withdrawal of free on street parking in most locations – cruising for free
parking causes considerable congestion – replaced with resident and busi-
nesses permitted parking
 parking charges to reflect the true cost of parking provision – many outer
boroughs make a loss on their car parking accounts and if the full cost of
capital and depreciation was taken into account these losses would be
substantial
 introduction of a workplace parking levy – even in outer London this is a
substantial tax free benefit – reduction in workplace parking frees up more
space for development, green spaces, public realm and helps to reduce traf-
fic congestion
 London wide road user charging needs to be introduced to reduce conges-
tion and smooth out traffic flows across the day – albeit at a much lower
level than the central London charge
Transport
Traffic
Development
Planning
Urban Design
Economics
 consideration given to the establishment of home delivery centres – i.e.
local shops/post offices/garages where home deliveries can be made and
picked up by the recipient at a time suitable to them rather than the present
high level of failed deliveries direct to homes and often requiring 2nd or 3rd
deliveries
 removal of traffic lights at lightly used junctions where they are not needed
for safety reasons
 the turning off of traffic lights at times of low traffic volumes while main-
taining safe pedestrian crossing facilities where needed
Transport
Traffic
Development
Planning
Urban Design
Economics

Outer London Commission Responce

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Outer London Commission Responce

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Outer London

If employment growth beyond that related to population growth is to be

Another area where employment growth can be sustained is through the

Quality of education, the availability of green and community spaces,

Traffic management also needs to be far more radical in terms of:

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