Spaces in Boris's policies

Ben Willis, Regeneration & Renewal, 22 August 2008

In an environment manifesto published during his campaign for the London mayoralty, Boris Johnson promised he would "work to make London a pleasant place to live, by nurturing the public spaces that bind us". For anyone who voted for Johnson on the basis of such pledges, it might have come as something of a disappointment when, less than three months into his term, the mayor decided to scrap his predecessor's flagship public realm programme.

Earlier this month, it emerged that the 100 Public Spaces initiative introduced under Ken Livingstone - quite literally to create or upgrade 100 public spaces in London - is to be canned (R&R, 8 August, p2). What is more, advisory body Design for London, set up only 18 months ago to coordinate this and other Greater London Authority programmes, is to be absorbed into a land and infrastructure directorate within the London Development Agency, which is itself under review (R&R, 1 August, p2).

Perhaps predictably, both moves have angered environmentalists, who believe it is the first sign that the aspirations set out in Johnson's election campaign lack substance. "This is a disastrous decision," says Jenny Jones, a Green Party London Assembly member and deputy chair of the Assembly's Planning and Housing Committee. "What he's done here is to send out signals showing that he's not at all serious about this agenda and has no idea how to make it happen."

But retrograde a step as it may seem, there were questions concerning the viability of the 100 Public Spaces programme. For a start, it had a relatively low output: launched in 2002, the programme oversaw the successful completion of just five schemes, with ten more due to start on site over the coming year. A further 27 are either still at early design stages or need to complete funding deals before they can go ahead.

According to some involved in the programme, the process has been far from straightforward. Steve Miles, a former Design for London (DfL) member who worked on a number of the schemes, says funding was one major reason for the programme's relatively slow progress. He blames the use of section 106 planning gain agreements under which developers contribute to community infrastructure. "The lack of funding for these projects isn't any mayor's fault," he says, "it's a result of a blunt-edged planning system that directs funding where there is money to be made, not where it can make a social difference."

This raises questions for Johnson. He has already promised to replace Livingstone's programme with some kind of new public realm initiative. When the news broke that the 100 Public Spaces programme was to be ended, Johnson's office said the Livingstone scheme was too "aspirational", but that the new mayor remained "committed" to public realm improvement. A spokesman added later that the mayor would announce a rebranded programme "focusing far more on delivering schemes on the ground".

But how Johnson proposes "delivering" where the previous scheme failed is open to debate. How, for instance, will he overcome the funding hurdle that stymied the 100 Public Spaces scheme?

One answer may lie in the decision to integrate DfL into the LDA's land and infrastructure directorate - which has an £80 million annual budget to play with. This pot, says a London Development Agency spokeswoman, is intended to cover all regeneration and infrastructure, not just public realm projects. However, she adds that the intention behind the amalgamation is to incorporate design expertise into the agency's day-to-day activities: "It will ensure that the agency can draw on both design and regeneration expertise."

DfL director Peter Bishop, who will lead the land and infrastructure directorate, is reviewing the unit, after which it is likely that further details will emerge on the mayor's future public realm programme. Regeneration & Renewal was unable to reach Bishop for comment, but he has reportedly welcomed DfL's integration into the London Development Agency and the opportunities it will bring in terms of budget and clout - something that, as a stand-alone organisation, DfL lacked.

Nevertheless, the new mayor's move to scrap the programme has angered critics. Rather than representing a clearly thought through policy development, they say shelving one of Livingstone's flagship programmes is a political move designed to weaken the former mayor's policy legacy.

John Thompson, chairman of design champion the Academy of Urbanism, says: "It's nonsense to detach the vibrancy of London from the quality of its public spaces, which are some of the worst in Europe. This seems to be a disastrously short-sighted step. Good-quality public space doesn't just happen overnight. It needs political vision and leadership. It sounds like Boris is trying to eradicate previous empires by throwing away what could have been a very promising initiative."