Sustainable Development Partnership Board

20th October 2009

Regeneration: Issues, Challenges and Questions

1: Recession: the backdrop• 1997-2007: Decade of significant growth which fuels

significant commercial and personal debt built largely on the housing market.

• Commercial and personal credit dries up as banking sector crashes following US sub prime crisis.

• Massive falls in UK housing and commercial property market.

• Significant rises in UK unemployment across all sectors.• Suggestions that by 2011 up to 1.2 million young people

will be unemployed, with over 60% of these out of work for over a year.

1: Continued

• Credit squeeze starts to hit PPP sector as debt is harder and more expensive to secure. (Big impact on PFI sector).

• Consumer behaviour still resistant to spending more• Personal savings at record highs. (Mirrors the banks

need to shore up balance sheets).• Growing graduate unemployment at a time when student

admissions are at all time high.• Expectations of short to medium term pressure to reduce

public expenditure across all sectors.

2: Regeneration challenges and questions for Lewisham

• How clear is it that the private residential market will recover sufficiently to deliver key regeneration projects in the Borough? (Target is 21,650 new homes by 2025).

• How can Lewisham maximise the ‘benefits’ from the significant growth of the private rented sector (now at around 30% of the stock?

• Is institutional investment in the private rental market the key to delivering good quality choice?

• If the retail sector fails to significantly recover what is the future for all the town centres in the Borough?

2: Continued

• Is it realistic to plan for a significant growth in local employment in Lewisham, or should we concentrate on better access to the wider London labour market?

• What additional stimulus can the public sector give to regeneration in Lewisham?

• In a period of only very slow growth (at best) how can Lewisham continue to deliver on the climate change agenda?