Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Bob Doyle (Head of Economic Development) for discussion on the Council’s new Economic Development Strategy before Cabinet approval.   

The panel received a presentation from Bob Doyle (Head of Economic Development) on the Council’s new Economic Development Strategy. 

1.            Presentation

·         Over the last 6 months, there had been many successful economic achievements in Enfield, including helping businesses respond to the Covid situation, the outcome of the Good Growth Fund bid for Angel Edmonton, putting in place Town Centre Action Plans, inward investment from large companies such as Waitrose, the Beaver Town Brewery and OMA Film Studios and supporting the growth of existing businesses including SHL Stage Lighting, which had recently expanded their borough premises, creating more high quality jobs and 20 new apprenticeships.

·         The Coronavirus has had a significant impact on Enfield with an increase of 164% in the numbers of unemployed since January, 52,000 people are currently on the furlough scheme - many of these may also lose their jobs, when the scheme ends.  There have been significant rises in youth unemployment.

·         The key objectives of the new strategy were to create an economy which worked for everyone, creating more high-quality employment, enhancing skills and connecting local people to employment, developing town centres and crafting a cultural offer. 

·         The strategy was about creating the right conditions for growth, designing for the emerging economy, capitalising on Enfield’s unique strengths and building the right partnerships.   

·         There were five key themes:  people, work, places, investment and partnerships. 

·         Enfield has 17.1% of workless households which is high for London. The borough was getting younger, numbers of young people are growing, it is amongst the youngest of the London boroughs.  It was important to invest in this future talent pool.  In the past, the borough was over reliant on a lower wage economy, which did work for a while, but there is a need to put jobs on a more sustainable footing, with higher quality work. 

·         In Enfield 92% of businesses are micro businesses employing 1-9 people.  These businesses are part of the community and reflect local needs and concerns.  Amongst these there are many different types of business and it was important to channel support in the right direction.

·         In town centres Enfield has a very low office space vacancy rate at 4%.  Much space had been lost and there was a growing need especially for high quality office space.  The underdeveloped night-time economy and shortage of leisure facilities has meant that Enfield has not been good at attracting visitors from home and elsewhere. This was an area with good opportunities for growth, particularly at the current time with more people working from home. 

·         Over the last five years, seventy percent of new investment in the borough has been in construction, professional services, business support services, information and communication and transportation and storage.  The new Metaswitch building now owned by Microsoft was a good example of major investment in the borough.  It is one of the largest in Europe. 

·         Enfield had good relations with local partners and had attracted significant funding such as the £156m for Meridian Water from the Housing Infrastructure Fund.  The Council had attracted start-ups as part of the Innovation Corridor.  It was an ideal place for life sciences, funding and investment were flowing in.  Enfield had a wide range of businesses which they were looking to build upon, with major household names and were strong in food and drink, logistics and the creative industries.  

·         To conclude, the strategy lists eight things that Enfield could do better: promoting the borough to change perceptions, attracting new businesses and retaining and growing existing business, bringing in new start-ups (currently Enfield was below the London average), developing the film offer, working closely with new business and entrepreneurs, preventing the decline of office space, transforming industrial strategy away from low wage lower skills, ensuring diversification of the Town Centres, making them safe and welcoming and creating a better visitor culture, making sure the borough’s attractions are more widely known. These actions should bring the strategy to life. 

2.            Questions/Comments from Members

2.1       Thanks for the excellent presentation.

2.2       Glad to see appreciation and celebration of the large numbers of young people in the borough but concern about the fact that Enfield Town ranked 23 out of 34 for provision of pubs and restaurants.  This needed to be addressed particularly for the younger generation.  Enfield should rank in the top ten. 

2.3       Concern that Microsoft might centralise their operations in Paddington and reassurance that the operation in Enfield focussing on cloud computing was a separate entity and that Microsoft was committed to the borough. 

2.4       Support for the use of Meridian Water for festivals such as the recent Field Day festival which had bought thousands of young people and business into the borough.  Such events were gradually moving out of the central London into the suburbs.  Using facilities at Meridian Water was preferable to using Trent Park. 

2.5       The need to incentivise more food and drink outlets which would meet the needs of more people working from home. 

2.6       To acknowledge that some areas such as Cockfosters did have a thriving night-time economy with many pubs and restaurants. 

2.7       Concern that former industrial areas such as Brimsdown were being taken over by housing development.  Agreement that it was a shame to lose industrial space but a lot of the available industrial buildings were not fit for purpose.  Better planning was required and some densities needed to increase.

2.8       Enfield had some of the best industrial spaces in London which was a real asset.

2.9       Bread, milk, beer and soft drinks were key industries.  They had long term sustainability serving a third of UK consumers in the South East.  Enfield needed to encourage them to stay.

2.10    The Council were pleased to have been able to have attracted high quality innovative businesses like Waitrose and Ocado. They wanted to foster companies with good employment practices.

2.12    Enfield needed to be better at promoting what was available and what they could do to provide support to business.

2.13    The Council wanted to work with occupiers to make better use of existing industrial space and to halt the decline of office space in town centres.

2.14    London has had extraordinary success over the past few years in developing new industries.  There are now 40,000 tech companies in London.  These were gradually moving away from the centre as rents became unaffordable and could be encouraged to move further afield to areas like Enfield.  Enfield needed to place itself to attract some of these companies. 

2.15    Despite the move towards working from home, there were positives for working in an office, sharing ideas, building relationships.  Places to meet would always be needed.  Enfield needed more quality modern flexible space. 

2.16    Enfield Town could be damaged by inappropriate housing development.  It ought to be a more attractive centre for local people.  Many people live nearby. 

Councillor Margaret Greer summed up the discussion as follows: 

The four key objectives in the new strategy will help provide the right conditions for emerging industries and capitalise on Enfield’s unique strengths.  The strategy will be looking to bring in the right people to pull in future talent and create work for people in Enfield.  It would help to promote Enfield as a place to do business, bring in investors like the Microsoft building in Enfield Town and develop local town centres to meet future needs. Enfield could be a key part of the overall London offer.  It also needed to celebrate its cultural heritage and diversity.