Updated Letter to the Mayor of London

PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR LETTER HERE

Dear Sadiq Khan,

Since Len Maloney, his customers and Guild members sang to you outside City Hall on 7th November, we feel sure our Manifesto for the New Economy is now on your radar. The asks within are largely the same manifesto proposals you agreed to support us with in 2021 including affordable rent via Social Value Leases and a site for a Community Land Trust. Following the eviction of Len Maloney’s business we still have not had a response from you regarding a meeting so today we are politely writing to remind you to honour the pledge that you made at Spitalfields Farm on 22nd April 2021, to meet representatives from the Guild and the New Economics Foundation so we can make progress together.

The principles of the solutions within our Manifesto have been fed into the new Growth Plan for London and if actioned would be felt and seen by Londoners for generations to come. A legacy we could all be proud of. Listening done by the GLA to shape this Growth Plan reveals that only 23% of Londoners surveyed felt that London’s economy is fair.  Social Value Leases would support the GLA and local Councils to meet the London Growth Plan’s aims of “Delivering an Inclusive Economy”.  The Trades Guild Community Land Trust is also key to the Growth Plan aim of “Supporting Local Economies to Thrive” for the long-term.

JC Motors was evicted three weeks ago on 12th November after trading successfully with a loyal and stable customer base for 40 years. The arch on Stean Street is now vacant and the fourth TfL-owned space that we know of sitting empty in Haggerston. The wasteland once home to Crispins Removals on 35-37 Pearson Street and the arch formally occupied by Dunstan’s Garage on Dunstan Street have been left empty for five years. JC Motors found a home outside of Hackney in Leyton, with 1st City Van Hire a customer of JC Motors who fell to the same fate at the hands of Arch Co. It is lucky for the local economy that solidarity is so strong amongst Londoners but this is clearly a long way from Len’s customer base.  

Arch Co, the country’s largest private provider of premises to small and medium-sized businesses has raised its rents sharply; there is no reason why TfL and Places for London, should do likewise for small businesses providing social value. Arch Co from a £710.3m profit in 2022 made a £429.5m loss in 2023 due to a £466.6m asset write-down.  While small business tenants were squeezed with higher rents Arch Co did not pay any taxes. We contend that it is not Is it ethical or the best use of vital public assets for TfL and PfL to collaborate with Arch Co on comparable rental evidence – basing the market rents for garages and other foundational businesses on Arch Co-owned arches.

Affordable rent in the form of a policy focused on Social Value is not a state subsidy, which many large businesses get, but rather a recorded reflection of the services that JC Motors and many other socially trading members of the Guild offer to communities that save the state money. The industry standard social value measurement tool TOMS that we propose in our current manifesto could still be applied to the arches estate to prevent further unnecessary business displacement and closure by the very institution that should be prioritising them. 

We the undersigned politely ask that you respond to the EETG’s request to meet with you together with the Guild and their partners the New Economics Foundation and for a date in 2025 to be made available before the end of this year. 

Yours sincerely,