Agenda item

The Board received a brief presentation and considered a report on the new vision for the Upper Lee Valley from the Deputy Director of the North London Strategic Alliance.

The North London Strategic Alliance worked across three Boroughs, Haringey, Waltham Forest and Enfield, to promote and improve the Upper Lee Valley (ULV) area. The ULV Vision had been formed in order to provide a long-term view of the area that could be implemented incrementally as opportunities within the area arose.

The three Boroughs, in collaboration with the Local Development Agency and Greater London Authority, had developed the ULV Vision through the Alliance. Its primary focus was to halt the long period of decline experienced in the area due to the structural decline of manufacturing in London.

It was noted that the Upper Lee Valley ULV was strategically placed to utilise links with the London-Cambridge growth corridor, Stansted Airport and the Olympic and Thames Gateways. The ULV Vision had been developed to ensure that these opportunities were realised. The following key issues were focussed upon within the Vision:

Highlighting communication and transport links within the area -demonstrating the areas connections to central London, the Olympic and Thames Gateway and the Stansted/Cambridge corridor.

Improving the built environment -focussing on how areas where industrial buildings and domestic dwellings were in close proximity could be improved.

Improving communication links across the Borough.

The Board was advised that effective Partnership working would be key to the success of the Vision and that cross Borough working was required in order to take it forward. In order to facilitate this a Leaders Forum had been established and this included the Leader of each of the Councils and key lead officers. In addition to this there were several other bodies that flowed into this.

It was noted that there had already been successful cross Borough approach to address Worklessness via the North London Pledge, which had been lead by Haringey, and the through the cross Borough action plan for the Central Leeside Area.

The Board was advised that representatives from each of the Local Strategic Partnerships would included within the bodies that sat beneath the Leaders’ Forum. Representatives from HAVCO indicated that if assistance was required in identifying community and voluntary sector representatives the organisation would be happy to assist in this process.

The Board discussed the ULV Vision and how the area could make the most of the opportunities available as part of the Olympics. It was suggested that identifying unique selling points that would attract people to the area would be crucial to the success of the Vision. Improving the waterways and canals in the area and looking at opportunities to move freight onto the canals were also identified, as areas the Vision should address.

The Board was advised that there had already been significant progress made in raising the profile of the ULV and interest in the Central Leeside area demonstrated this shift. There were other tangible examples of this such as the North London Pledge and the current regeneration of the Tottenham area.

The Chair thanked the Deputy Director of the North London Strategic Alliance for his presentation.

RESOLVED:

That the new Vision and Partnership Structure for the Upper Lee Valley be noted.