A new report says a faster than expected conversion of industrial land to residential and new government planning rules risks pushing out London’s manufacturing and industrial employers.
Published by London Assembly member Jenny Jones, the report says conversion over the past decade has happened “at twice the rate planned for in the Mayor’s London Plan”.
Baroness Jones says this has contributed to the loss of skilled and semi-skilled manual jobs and risks undermining the parts of the capital’s economy..
In her report she adds that the situation is likely to worsen unless the reverses or limits changes to planning laws which allow existing commercial buildings to be converted residential use without having to seek approval from the local council.
Publishing her report, Baroness Jones said: “The Mayor has to look again at the huge and ongoing loss of industrial land, which he and the government want to push further.
“London can’t just be a city of accountants and cleaners, we need decent manual jobs that keep the city ticking over and we should be making more in London, not less.”
