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It's the infrastructure, stupid!
Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of the capital's leading business organisation, London First17.10.08
THE diagnosis is clear. London is bound for tough times. Whether or not we're officially in recession, it already feels tough for many Londoners and for many businesses. So London needs what it needed in the boom times investment in its fabric. It's the infrastructure, stupid!
Thus preparations for 2012 now appear a godsend. Thames Tideway, Crossrail and the Tube improvement programme provide further counter-cyclical investment and jobs. The downturn provides an extra reason to invest: generating activity which can keep construction companies in business and Londoners in jobs.
Above all, Crossrail is forecast to employ 25,000 engineers and labourers, security staff and tunnellers during its construction. Recruitment of a new board is near complete, tenders for several hundred million pounds of preparatory works have been issued and a public information campaign is under way. In the meantime I have had assurances, restated in the last few weeks from ministers and the Mayor and his team, that this vital rail project is receiving green signals all the way.
The Government has blown its borrowing rules to pieces with its (welcome) support for the banking system. So there should be no embarrassment about honouring their capital spending commitments for London's creaking infrastructure.
We have several competitiveness task forces, under the Chancellor and the Mayor, set up to provide advice on how London can remain top of the world cities. Their reports, due early next year, should guide more proactive policymaking.
Now is the time to be investing in our future. All of these major projects are true investments in London and Londoners, equipping our capital for the eventual recovery.
