Championing South Bank

Creating opportunities for advocacy and joint working.

SBEG facilitated the founding of South Bank Partnership in 1995, which was co-chaired by the area’s then Members of Parliament Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) and Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey). With significant funding and investment coming into the area, a proportion of which was managed by SBEG, there was a need to ensure transparency and accountability to the community, and to ensure that there was join-up on key projects.

Partnership became and remains a valuable opportunity for SBEG members to meet collectively with the area’s MPs and also senior representatives of the two local authorities, other statutory agencies and community representatives, alongside other businesses, cultural and educational institutions.

Partnership continues to play a key role in overseeing the development and growth of the area and ensuring that its needs are understood and addressed.  It maintains oversight of the innovative Section 106 agreement that reinvests 1% of the London Eye’s annual turnover into South Bank, through the provision of core neighbourhood services, including the management and maintenance of Jubilee Gardens. SBEG is the preferred partner for managing this funding, reporting to Partnership on an annual basis.

Over the years SBEG has continued to lead and facilitate both Partnership and the Forum.  In May 2020, the names changed to South Bank and Waterloo Partnership / South Bank and Waterloo Forum to better reflect the wider area. South Bank and Waterloo Neighbours took over responsibility for the Forum in 2020 following the formal adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Partnership continues to oversee and coordinate efforts to transform the area, in particular its public realm, the quality of its environment, and aspects of safety and security, and has been at the forefront of exciting and positive transformation and meaningful change for London’s cultural heart since 1995. Chaired by the current local MPs for Vauxhall, and Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Partnership remains a potent and important mechanism for bringing together a diverse group of organisations who work through a collective framework to ensure that opportunities are managed and delivered for the benefit of all those who live, work, study and visit the area.

South Bank Employers’ Group set up South Bank Business Improvement District (BID) in 2014 to improve the management of South Bank in the face of increasing footfall and falling public spending. Establishing the BID enabled more local organisations to get involved in improving, managing, and promoting South Bank alongside existing SBEG members.

South Bank BID has over 300 levy payers and funds and supports several neighbourhood services, including enhanced security, cleaning and refuse collection. The BID also helps to promote South Bank as a leading visitor destination for domestic and international visitors. The BID is a voice for South Bank businesses and provides a wealth of networking opportunities to the organisations in the area through event and networking programmes.

South Bank BID Ltd is responsible for the work of the BID, and is a separate company to SBEG, with a Board of Directors. SBEG is the BID’s delivery agent, and the SBEG CEO also serves as the BID CEO.   This close interrelationship maximises the value of shared goals and ensures the two organisations' activity is complimentary. In 2019 South Bank BID received a 99% Yes vote during the ballot for the BID’s second term which runs until 2024.

South Bank Partnership first launched its groundbreaking and innovative manifesto in 2006: Under Pressure and On the Edge - London's South Bank: a manifesto for action researched and formulated by South Bank Employers' Group.

Published every four years, these collaborative documents set the agenda and a shared vision for the following period, bringing together key public, private and third sector stakeholders, committed to driving change that will benefit all.

The South Bank Manifesto is a useful tool for collective lobbying and derives its influence from the widespread agreement about the needs of the future of the neighbourhood amongst those who make up the South Bank and Waterloo Partnership. These include major South Bank organisations, members of the business and community sectors, Lambeth and Southwark Councils, the Mayor's agencies and local residents represented by their ward councillors and MPs.

SBEG played an important role in establishing South Bank and Waterloo Neighbours (SoWN) as the Neighbourhood Forum for the area. SBEG saw that the 2011 Localism Act sought to change the powers of local government by facilitating the devolution of decision-making powers from central government to individuals and communities.

The Act allows Neighbourhood Plans to be developed and adopted if they pass an inspection and are voted in via a local referendum. Certain community organisations can develop a plan for a recognised neighbourhood which, if approved, then forms part of the statutory planning framework. In resourcing and supporting the establishment of SoWN, SBEG helped the development of the Neighbourhood Plan which was voted for by residents and businesses in October 2019.