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Inclusive Economy and Culture Scrutiny Panel - Wednesday, 23rd April, 2025 6.30 pm
April 23, 2025 View on council websiteSummary
The Inclusive Economy and Culture Scrutiny Panel were scheduled to discuss updates from cabinet members and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The meeting was scheduled to cover a range of topics, including economic development, support for local businesses, cultural events, sports, and the voluntary sector. The panel was also expected to note the progress of the UKSPF programme and a further allocation of resources from the GLA1.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund Update
The panel was scheduled to note the progress in the delivery of the UKSPF programme 2022-2025. The UKSPF programme is the government's replacement for the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF), with the primary aim of levelling up communities, building pride in place and increasing life chances across the UK.
The report pack included a note that the government has extended the UKSPF programme for a further year (2025/26), and that Greenwich Council is to receive a further £1,038,700 allocation from the GLA.
The original UKSPF programme had three investment priorities:
- Communities and Place - £1,392,100
- Supporting Local Business - £451,003
- People and Skills - £867,000
The Communities and Place projects included:
- A £170,000 Festive Lighting Programme across ten local shopping centres.
- £253,575 for lighting improvements to Cutty Sark Gardens.
- £374,600 for public realm improvements at Arnott Close and Leslie Smith Square.
- £140,000 for the refurbishment of playgrounds.
- £46,420 for the fit out of the new cafe facility at Beresford Square.
The Communities and Place revenue projects included:
- £125,000 for a Voluntary & Community Sector Volunteering programme, delivered by Volunteer Centre Greenwich
- £123,925 for a Cost of Living Outreach Support project, delivered by SELCE.
- £40,000 for a subscription to the GLA’s High Streets Data Service.
- £13,000 for a Cost of Living Community Stakeholder Event.
- £107,000 for an Outreach and Inclusion events programme.
- £20,000 for a Tourism & Visitor Economy Project, delivered by Visit Greenwich in conjunction with Knight Dragon.
- £25,000 for Neighbourhood Parades.
The Supporting Local Business programme had supported:
- Over 900 businesses to get vital support to grow, diversify and become more competitive
- Over 100 businesses to get business support grants
- 85 entrepreneurs to be start up ready
- Local businesses to create 64 new jobs whilst safeguarding 116 further jobs.
The People and Skills investment priority had an allocation of £867,000, to support 243 residents over 15 months through a rolling programme of wrap around one-to-one support to access employment and skills provision, through the council’s job brokerage service, Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLaB).
Cabinet Member Update, Equalities, Culture and Communities
Councillor Sandra Bauer, Cabinet Member for Equalities, Culture and Communities, was scheduled to provide an update on work undertaken in her portfolio.
Culture and Events
The Culture and Events team oversaw more than 150 events and workshops from the beginning of May 2024 until the end of September 2024, working closely with partners and community organisations.
The summer programme included activity funded through the BH365 and Community Arts Fund grants. Over 98% of events and activities were free of charge to Greenwich residents, with approximately 65,000 residents able to experience a local cultural event close to where they live and work. Over 200 local community groups and many local food traders, participated in the delivery of events and activities.
Royal Greenwich Festivals brought free, inclusive events to all corners of the borough, including the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival.
Other events included:
- Sparkle in the Park in Charlton Park
- Festive events in Passey Place in Eltham and General Gordon Square in Woolwich.
- The annual BH365 programme, which plays a crucial role in celebrating the culture and heritage of the African and Caribbean diaspora communities.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich’s first ever Culture Strategy, Our People, Our Culture, Our Future, was launched, which followed conversations with communities, residents, cultural organisations, developers, local businesses and schools.
Sport, Leisure and Libraries
Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) are contracted to manage the council's 12 libraries, 5 Adventure Play Centres and 7 Leisure Centres.
The Library Service operates a diverse portfolio with 4 of the libraries now collocated with the leisure centres at Eltham, Greenwich, Plumstead and Thamesmere. The libraries in Woolwich, Eltham, Greenwich and Plumstead account for over 82% of overall visits and 68% of the overall items borrowed.
Across all 12 libraries there are on average 160,000 visits per month, reaching over 2 million a year, with Woolwich the 2nd most visited in the UK.
The libraries have continued to help support the Free School Meals programme and takes place every school holiday in Woolwich, Eltham, Thamesmere, Plumstead and Greenwich.
Eltham Library, is now twinned with the Children’s Central Library in Kyiv and provides an extensive programme of activities to support over 100 Ukrainian refugees including coffee mornings and creative art sessions.
The library service is to undergo a review this year and will involve a library opening hours consultation.
The leisure centre business continues to go from strength to strength with a 6% increase in visits across the 7 centres. Data is similar to the libraries with over 165,000 visits per month, leading to 2 million annual throughput in 2024.
Some key highlights over the last twelve months include GLL’s Healthwise programme. The GP referral scheme celebrated its 20th Birthday which has seen over 30,000 referrals since it began with over 3,500 in 2024. In addition, over 2,000 residents are enjoying subsidised leisure centre membership.
GLL also facilitate a Sports Foundation which supports local athletes with a mixture of direct grants and complimentary leisure centre usage. Over 100 Greenwich-based athletes were supported in 2024 from grass roots to Olympic level, over 90% of whom receiving no other funding.
GLL also run an annual Club Games, the nation’s largest sporting competition for over 60s. It was held once again at the Copper Box Arena in October 2024. Several hundred older adults took part, including a team of over 50 Greenwich residents. Team Greenwich achieved a valiant third place in the competition out of over 20 boroughs.
Working in partnership, the Royal Borough of Greenwich and GLL have made signification investments in the last 12 months, including maintaining the existing Waterfront Leisure Centre and fixing the ever-popular Viper slide.
The Eltham centre gym equipment was updated with over £100,000 new equipment, achieving ‘Excellent ‘rating through the national Quest Accreditation scheme.
Similar investment was made in the Greenwich Centre with Gym and studio refurbishment works. The Centre continues to grow in usage and membership despite the local budget gyms within the vicinity.
At the Plumstead Centre, Healthwise GP Referral was launched in 2024 and is proving to be a great success. There are also plans this year to expand health and fitness space to meet the growing demand from residents.
Coldharbour Leisure Centre has now introduced Padel Tennis in the outdoor courts, in partnership with Game4Padel.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich and GLL were successful in being awarded £424,000 for Thamesmere Leisure Centre from Sport England as part of the Swimming Pool Support Fund. This grant has been used to replace ageing boilers with a modern, energy-efficient heating system.
There are 5 Adventure Play Centre, at Coldharbour, Glyndon, Meridian, Plumstead and Woolwich, which have over 60,000 visits per year. This year there will a review of these sites in relation to transforming Youth Play at these sites or in close proximity.
General sport and Leisure provision continues to expand through the Greenwich Get Active (GGA) Programmes, which is all about addressing the number of inactive adults within the borough through sport and Physical activity. The number of inactive residents currently stands at 23% (53,500).
There are a number of innovative programmes that have been successful including ‘Give it A Go’. This is an 8-week free membership programme at the leisure centres and is offered to local groups who are looking to do some physical activity together and encourage each other to try exercise classes, gym and swim.
Another programme, which is now embedded in the leisure centre offer, is adults’ ‘Swim for a Quid’ on weekday afternoons in 4 pools, averaging 600 participants a month. ‘Family Swims for a Fiver’ (up to 6 people) sees a regular 150 families swimming every month.
In partnership with the Swimming Teachers Association and GLL, seven students with learning disabilities are now qualified swimming teachers.
The Greenwich Get Active Small Grants programme was delivered by 17 organisations with a total of £67,824 funding awarded. The focus of the small grants was for organisations to support inactive/less active Greenwich residents in physical activity. Funded organisations included Moorings Residents Group and Friends of Hawksmoor, Champions 4 Change Amateur Boxing, train with Tara and Greenwich Parkinson’s Support Group.
The council was successful in securing £115,000 funding to enhance cricket facilities at several sites within the borough. New facilities, including artificial wickets and cricket training nets, are now in place at Charlton Park, Hervey Road Playing Fields, Bostall Heath Woods and Clam Field.
The Lawn Tennis association provided over £350,000 to support the refurbishment of Tennis Courts at various sites across the borough, at Bostall Gardens, Kidbrooke Green, Plumstead Common, Altash Gardens and Blackheath.
Marked and Measured Routes were set up in 5 parks, in Charlton Park, Avery Hill, Eltham Park South, Winns Common and Hornfair Park.
The council is working in partnership with the Black Swimming Association, providing water safety sessions and swimming lessons for young people and adults from African, Caribbean and Asian communities, using the Spa pool at the Eltham Centre for specific sessions on a weekly basis.
The new leisure centre in Woolwich is coming along and is expected to open in the autumn 2025.
Parks, Estates & Open Spaces
The letting of the new cafe building at Bostall Gardens in Abbey Wood was completed just before Christmas, with the cafe opening in early 2025.
Parks, Estates & Open Spaces were successful in their bid for a Capital Grant to refurbish the Boardwalk and Viewing Platform at Sutcliffe Park in Kidbrooke.
Works to the park toilets at Oxleas Woods were completed in mid-March 2025 and the newly refurbished toilets which are free to use are now open.
After consultation and master-planning with the Friends of St Alfege Park, local community and church, the improvement works at St Alfege Park are planned to start in May / June 2025.
Parks, Estates & Open Spaces has submitted an additional park - Bostall Gardens for a Green Flag Award this year.
Work has been started at Woolwich New Cemetery marking out new plots for cremated remains burials, baby burials and children’s burial spaces. Work has also been arranged to have the steps up to the war memorial in Woolwich Cemetery modified due to safety reasons.
The public toilet in Charlton Cemetery has been refurbished and will be open to the public in early April.
There is a memorial in Woolwich Old Cemetery to commemorate the victims of a disaster that occurred when the Princess Alice paddle steamer sank in the Thames in September 1878 after colliding with a collier ship and approximately 600 people were killed. Cleaning of the memorial in Woolwich Old Cemetery is in progress following funding sourced by relatives of those killed in the disaster and will be completed early May 2025
Eltham Crematorium (EC) remains the busiest in London and sits in 10th busiest out of 334 Crematoria across the UK.
Greenwich Public Mortuary (GPM) forms part of the Inner London South (ILS) Coroner’s consortium, consisting of Lambeth, Lewisham, RBG and Southwark local authorities. GPM remains the busiest Mortuary in London completing 1150 invasive post-mortems pa.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Following pre-scrutiny by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Cabinet agreed the new Equality and Equity Objectives for the Council, which will run to 2028.
Work is progressing on the development of an Anti-Racism Strategy, with internal engagement work currently taking place with staff to understand their lived experiences of racism, alongside the use of data to identify trends within the Council.
Voluntary and Community Sector
Greenwich Giving, a local giving scheme for Greenwich that the Council has developed with community and business partners, held its launch event.
In July 2024, the Council agreed the new Community Resource Strategy, which seeks to strengthen how the council works with community organisations, including in respect of community buildings.
The Council’s Multifaith Forum regularly meets to ensure engagement and information sharing between the Council, other public sector partners and faith communities in Greenwich.
Cabinet Member Update Inclusive Economy, Business Skills and (Greenwich Supports)
The panel was scheduled to consider a report providing an update on the Cabinet Member’s portfolio priorities. The portfolio includes Economic Development, Business, Town Centres and Markets, the Employment Service – GLLaB, and Adult Skills and Community Learning.
Economic Development and Community Wealth Building
The Inclusive Economy Strategy promotes a new approach to economic development by adopting the principles of Community Wealth Building. The strategy provides a high-level framework up to 2034, built around three themes: People, Place, and Prosperity, with cross-cutting themes of Tackling Inequalities and Green Growth.
The council has been working with GC Insights, formerly known as Ekosgen, who are carrying out a sector study that will provide four sector plans based on the borough’s existing and emerging sector strengths. The first set of sectors includes the Creative and Digital Sector combined, along with the following sub-sectors: architecture and design; telecoms; film & TV; Transport and Logistics, focusing on future transport; and Low Carbon, focusing on the decarbonisation of energy systems.
The £2.7 million Greenwich UK Shared Prosperity programme delivered capital investment to improve 23,608 m² of public space. 27 events took place in town centres, boosting footfall by almost 50,000 during event days. Festival lighting initiatives were installed in 15 locations borough wide, alongside revenue funding to support 1,100 residents to volunteer and 450 households receiving support to make homes more energy efficient.
The Anchored in Greenwich Partnership has led to anchor partners spending a total of £3.3 billion, with 6.9% of that amount, equating to £228 million, spent with suppliers based in Greenwich and £1.6 billion spent within London. This spending supports over 25,000 jobs in the regional economy.
During Cooperative Fortnight in June 2025, the council intends to host an in-person workshop to refresh the Anchored in Greenwich Partnership pledges and to advance efforts to expand the scope of becoming a Living Wage Place.
Business and Town Centres, Street Trading and Markets
The Royal Borough of Greenwich has committed to supporting local businesses to ensure a thriving, growing local economy. Initiatives to help local small businesses thrive include:
- The Inclusive Economy Strategy
- Business Support Programmes: Over 800 SMEs have accessed locally funded programmes, created new jobs and protected existing ones. The council has established a series of business breakfasts, including ‘Meet the Buyers’ events, which saw over 150 businesses attending to meet suppliers.
Effective management and maintenance of town centres is one of the key priorities, convened through a new Town Centre Management and Maintenance Steering Group which was established in September 2024.
The Woolwich Future High Streets Fund project is scheduled for completion over the spring and summer of this year.
GLLaB, Employment Programmes and Apprenticeships and Good Jobs
Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLaB) was set up by the Council in 1996, as a mechanism to link residents to jobs created locally, and to ensure local businesses secure contracts and supply chain opportunities arising from regeneration.
GLLaB continues to deliver the Restart Programme, Work and Health Programme and is about to commence with two new Government Programmes: Connect to Work and Economic Inactivity Trailblazer.
GLLaB has supported over 1,200 residents into jobs in financial 2023/24 year and managed over 600 vacancies with local employers. The Greenwich Access to Apprenticeship Fund has helped 20 SMEs to create over 60 apprentice positions, ensuring that over £0.5million of council unspent levy funding is kept locally, preventing this money being returned to the Treasury.
In October 2024, in partnership with developers, London South-East Colleges (LSEC), and Job Centre Plus, the council delivered its Annual Jobs & Skills Fair. This event saw 904 residents attending, an increase from last year, and 51 employers and skills providers exhibiting.
The Council and Goldsmiths University have formed a new partnership to fund eight work placements aimed at fostering inclusive and equitable growth within the creative sector.
The Annual Apprentices Summit took place at Woolwich Works during National Apprenticeship Week on 11th February. The event saw over 350 Year 12 and 13 students from nine Greenwich schools, and over 400 aspiring apprentices attended the public session to connect with a variety of training providers and employers.
The Greenwich Living Wage campaign has been highly successful, increasing the number of London Living Wage accredited businesses by 54% since the scheme's inception. This initiative has positively impacted over 24,000 workers and significantly raised wages for 7,474 of the lowest-paid workers in the borough. Royal Greenwich now boasts 130 accredited Living Wage employers across various sectors.
Adult Skills, FE HE
The devolved adult skills service, funded with £2.1 million annually, has significantly benefits the local population with over 3,400 learners engaging in learning last year. The curriculum offer provides skills and qualifications that improve employability, health, well-being, whilst promoting lifelong learning. The programme is delivered across two adult learning sites, 29 community settings, and online provision, and collaborates with nine sub-contracted delivery partners to ensure extensive reach and impact.
The programme boasts impressive success metrics, with a 97% achievement and pass rate, 97% retention rate, and 94% attendance rate.
The council has begun the process of recruiting delivery providers to a new Skills Framework for the next 4 academic years.
Later this year, the council will be publishing a comprehensive post-16 Skills strategy for the borough in partnership with other local HE and FE providers.
The council will be holding its 3rd annual Adult Skills Awards Ceremony in the Town Hall early July 2025.
Declarations of Interest
The panel was scheduled to note the list of councillors’ memberships as council appointed representatives on outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies, and to declare any personal or financial interests in items on the agenda.
Minutes
The panel was scheduled to confirm as an accurate record the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2025. The minutes of the previous meeting include presentations from representatives from Punchdrunk and the Director of Woolwich Works, alongside updates on activity and development since their previous attendance at Scrutiny.
Attendees








Meeting Documents
Agenda
Reports Pack
Additional Documents