Attracting private investment

Attracting private investment for economic development

On 9 September 2011, London Councils hosted a workshop to examine the options available to London boroughs seeking to finance economic development and regeneration. It follows on from the publication of the London Councils report "Investing in London".

With central government funding for regeneration having virtually ceased, and the costs of borrowing from the Public Works and Loans board rising significantly, London boroughs face increasing difficulty in securing funding to support large scale economic development/regeneration. It is clear that the private sector is going to play a much wider part in financing regeneration projects.

The workshop looked to furnish borough officers with information on the various tools through which economic development can be financed, what is likely to attract investors and developers into partnerships with boroughs, and the safeguards that both borough treasurers and private investors will want in place.

The event was chaired by Andrew Travers, Deputy Chief Executive of Barnet Council and ppresentations were made by:

• Andrew Hume, lead Director of the Regeneration team at Jones Lang LaSalle
• Jon Rowney, Head of Fair Funding, London Councils
• Jonathan Guthrie, lead on Investment Promotion, City of Edinburgh Council
• Pierre-Emmanuel Noel,  Senior Loan Officer for UK public sector lending, The European Investment Bank
• David Rose, Vice President, Infrastructure Finance, RBC Capital Markets 

Please see the 'related documents' section below where you can download notes and presentations from the workshop.