22 Jun A diffused approach emerges as London recovers from the pandemic

Councillor Peter Mason, Leader, Ealing Council highlighted how West London is now growing in a diffused manner, owing it all to thriving individual neighbourhoods, during his keynote speech at the Capital West London Growth Summit 2023, on 20 June.

He said: “We are pointing to a more sustainable and more diffused way of growing our economy. In a way, I think it will reset how Londoners think about themselves, and how London’s economy works for Londoners.”

He noted how Outer London is experiencing a boom with flourishing food and beverage businesses, art and entertainment that reflect individual neighbourhoods and local shopping parades that are busier than ever before. With Heathrow back on its feet, the Elizabeth line timetable on track, and the HS2’s Old Oak Common station placing its foundations at incredible pace, “London’s office market is adapting to the new embedded ways of working as we spend more of our lives in local communities living a better work-life balance and spending less time on crowded commuter trains.”

Councillor Mason addressed his fellow West London stakeholders – local government, investors, developers, and the wider public and private sectors – and expressed, “all of us play an integral role in the ecosystem of this part of the world”. At the root, he said their purpose is to, “enable everyone to get a piece of that timeless and irrepressible London promise,” by acknowledging and harnessing the region’s strengths and opportunities to build a new sustainable, ethical economy and environment.

He said: “West London’s economy feeds our great city in food, technology and production; it cures the nation with pharmaceuticals and life sciences; it entertains the continent in film, television and music production; it is our gateway to the world as an emerging market through aviation; and it explores whole new universes of technology, manufacturing, and change through our incredible universities.”