An Inward Investment Strategy for Hackney **

In 2007, the Renaisi managed inward investment agency, Invest in Hackney, was commissioned by London Borough of Hackney’s Local Strategic Partnership to investigate how inward investment could be used more effectively to address the borough’s wider economic development objectives as set out in the Local Area Agreement.

Their starting point was to identify intelligence gaps relating to the following;

- The regional context, constraints and opportunities in terms of inward investment.
- The kind of businesses we want to attract in to Hackney to help boost the economy and tackle worklessness
- How planning gains contributions can be used most effectively to contribute to the worklessness agenda
- The barriers to growth for existing Hackney Businesses and how these can be addressed.

The research was conducted by a range of methods including; desk top research, stakeholder interviews, case studies, an analysis of property supply and demand in the borough, GIS mapping, an in-depth analysis of the planning system and telephone interviews with around 100 businesses.

This intelligence helped to identify target sectors for the Borough and how it could maximise the inward investment opportunities presented by the 2012 Games. The strategy document sets out a series of recommendations for improvements to business infrastructure including; planning, property, marketing, business support and employment initiatives. Invest in Hackney believe that by making these comprehensive and strategically aligned improvements to the business environment, we will see an increase in the investment and retention of their target sectors.

The strategy is now being adopted by LB Hackney to help inform planning policy and section 106 agreements and has been endorsed by Team Hackney, the borough’s Local Strategic Partnership.

For more information on Invest in Hackney click here.