2023 is coming to a close, and what a year it’s been…
2023 has been a busy year for our city. From by-elections in key seats such as Uxbridge and South Ruislip, to Greg Hands’ appointment as Minister for London, there have been plenty of significant political changes this year.
Power is set to shift even further in 2024, with the upcoming Mayoral, Local and General Elections. We spoke to the four main candidates competing to be the next Mayor of London at our London Conference in November. Their wildly different priorities, from resolving the housing crisis to reversing the outer London ULEZ expansion, could set the city on a very different path. It’s certainly going to be an exciting year for London politics, and we can’t wait to be part of it.
It’s also been an exciting year at Centre for London!
Over 100 research recommendations
Our brilliant research team created over 100 recommendations throughout 2023, outlining a blueprint for a city that works better for all Londoners. From the housing crisis, to the issues surrounding better transport in the city, our research got to the heart of the biggest problems facing London right now.
Our Licence to Let and Homes Fit for Londoners programmes outlined how London’s housing market is in dire need of expansion, investment and regulation. Just a few weeks ago, we revealed that London must double the number of homes built annually, from 37,000 to 74,000 a year for 15 years to solve the current housing crisis.
With the ULEZ debate rumbling on, transportation was a major aspect of our research in 2023. Our projects discussed the possibility of urban logistic hubs for the delivery of packages using micro mobility vehicles, explored how to improve outer London transport and considered how financial incentives to encourage sustainable transport decisions could be introduced.
We built a shared vision for London by working with our partners. A few months ago, we co-authored a report on wellbeing in the capital with Queen Mary University of London. Our partnership with Savanta continued to grow, and their polling gave us direct insight into Londoner’s lived experiences.
More than 500 media mentions
Media coverage of our work surpassed 500 mentions in the past year. We’ve been featured in The Guardian, Bloomberg, the BBC, LBC, and The Evening Standard on various topics from a child-free inner London, to our work on Street Clutter.
An audience of 500+ at our flagship Conference
Our 2023 London Conference saw over 500 people in person and online come together to ask the pertinent question – is London in Crisis? We also loved hosting more intimate events for our London Network, which brought together London’s key stakeholders to discuss the future of our city. We heard from some of the most powerful people in London, including Andy Lord, Commissioner of TFL, Mark Wild, Former CEO of Crossrail, and Fiona Fletcher Smith, CEO of L&Q.
We welcomed many of you at our events. The year began with a panel and workshop on housing, looking at how post occupancy evaluation surveys impact how to construct and utilise the homes we build. Since we’ve hosted report launches, roundtables, our annual Spring Conference, panels at both major party conferences and our Summer Reception. Our events have seen Paul Scully MP, all four mayoral candidates, Fleur Anderson MP, Kate Raworth and many more influential speakers took to the stage to unpack the key issues facing the capital.
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A new CEO
In the midst of all of this action, Antonia Jennings, our new Chief Executive Officer, joined us in September. Antonia joined us from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, where she was Associate Director and is also Chair of Rethinking Economics. She has hit the ground running this year, and we are delighted to have her on board.
We can’t wait to get started on our 2024 plans! We’ll be continuing to advocate for the policy recommendations from our research this year as we approach the key campaigning period for candidates running in the upcoming elections. We’re looking forward to working with existing and new partners to shape the policies of those voted into positions of power. At this incredibly important time for the city, we’ll be a voice for all Londoners. A voice for all London is, and could be.