Working from home is not to blame for ‘hollowing out’ London
Sadiq Khan has expressed concern about the decline in office attendance and urged employers to attract workers back – but the finger of blame turns inexorably on himself, says Tom Jones
Nick, 30 years old, shuffles out of his single bed with a weary sigh. The dull grey morning light of late winter barely pierces the thin curtains; it is 6:30 AM, and the warmth of spring is still a month away.
He grabs a shower in his bathroom, surprisingly undisturbed for once; he shares with 6 others. He sets out for the morning train. He has been called back into the office.
In his local station he gets out his Zone 1-5 travelcard. This far out and this early, there are plenty of seats on the train. He grabs one, and looks across at a campaign banner for assisted dying, an ad for Moneygram and a message from the Mayor of London, warning men not to harass women.
Nick didn’t bring any lunch; he heads out to Pret and buys a sandwich, which he eats with a deep sense of regret. He and his fiancee are saving for a house; they have an eye on a flat, and have been saving for three years for the deposit. It’s a two bed terrace in Rickmansworth for just over half a million. Zone 7 is heaven, as some of his friends are telling him.
On his way back home, he notices that station staff have written a poem on the station board. ‘Into my heart an air that kills…’
Khan’s warnings
Sadiq Khan has warned that London “cannot afford” to become a city where the centre is “hollowed out” due to widespread remote working.
Speaking at an event last week, Khan expressed concerns over the decline in office attendance since the pandemic. While urging employers to encourage staff to return, he also emphasized the need for companies to create a more appealing office environment to attract workers back.
The finger of blame turns, inexorably, back to himself. London is already hollowed out. Nick cannot afford to live there; he cannot afford houses on the open market, nor does he qualify for social housing. It is frustrating that the pubs of central London don’t open past 9pm, but there is an economic reason for it. After three terms, Khan has failed to build enough to hit his housing targets. In an attempt to massage the figures, he lobbied for more funding to buy houses on the open market to turn into social housing; in a final fit, he has managed to have the targets lowered under Angela Rayner.
A guest at the event told Khan that his company was “losing the battle” to bring workers back to the office, citing the high cost of rail fares. His solution was to criticize private train operators for imposing repeated above-inflation fare hikes, emphasizing that he had sought to freeze Tube and bus fares whenever possible.
He added that he and his City Hall team had lobbied the department for transport to explore “innovative” ways to make rail travel more affordable and appealing for commuters in and around London.
Solving London’s housing issues would solve the cost of rail travel; building houses would mean Nick does not have to live so far out he has to rely on trains. There is, also, another option; maybe Nick would be happier to come back to the office if London was a more pleasant place to be. Just an idea.
Tom Jones writes at The Potemkin Village Idiot Substack