Across the sub-region, partners are working together to help close the skills gaps prioritised in our LSIP (Local Skills Improvement Plan). Whilst we are engaging with employers to ensure that the plan delivers their needs, our partners at the Local London Skills Providers Network are bringing together training and education providers to respond to the LSIP.

Through the network, training and education providers are developing new ways of teaching skills to meet business needs.

This was showcased at the Working at Heights business breakfast hosted recently by Capital City College and the Local London Skills Providers Network for employers in industries where safety at height is critical, ie construction, building maintenance, electrical work, cleaning, and wind turbine operations.

Photo of students at Enfield facility where they are learning how to work safely at heights suspended by harnesses.

In partnership with 3T, a leading training provider in the global offshore market, Capital City College and the Skills Providers Network have developed a suite of industry-specific courses to address gaps directly supporting LSIP priorities in construction, engineering and green jobs. These include:

The event also included a fascinating tour and demonstration of Capital City College’s state-of-the-art rope access facilities (pictured) and wind turbine maintenance workshop in Enfield, where students gain vital practical experience in maintaining and servicing wind turbines.

This free training offers local people access to hands-on upskilling opportunities in the growing green jobs sector that align both with our LSIP priorities and the UK Government’s net-zero targets.

Find out more

Discover our LSIP for the sub-region

Discover the Local London Skills Providers Network

 

As part of our Careers Hub’s work to broaden the career choices of all young people in our sub-region, our team, in conjunction with the Hub’s Cornerstone Employers, are helping parents and carers understand more of the options available to their children.

On 24 April 2025, we held a ‘Future Focus’ event for parents and carers of students in Enfield. At the event, held at Enfield Grammar School, over 100 parents, carers and young people attended expert-led workshops and met with a wide range of employers, education, training and apprenticeship bodies to learn more about career pathways.

Forogh Rahmani, Director of Local London explained “It is really important that we empower parents and carers to support their children’s career choices. There are so many options these days that it can feel a bit overwhelming. Through events like this and our wider work we want to give parents and carers the information they need to help their children study for and take their next best steps into post-16 or 18 education or training.”

 

Selection of pictures from the event showing parents and studenst talking to buisiness and college representatives at stands, and taking part in workshops.

The programme of 20-minute workshops led by experts proved particularly popular, with over 90% of attendees taking part. The workshops covered:

I didn’t even know that was a career path

Attending the event to find out more about options for her child, Sam*, parent from Enfield, said “I loved the Young People in Print stand. I didn’t even know that was a career path. It’s definitely one I will look into more.”

Our team would like to thank our hosts, all the parents, carers and students who attended and all the brilliant businesses who supported the event, including:

Find out more

To find out more about future events contact careershub.east@redbridge.gov.uk

Or follow the team on Linkedin: @careershub-east

Local London is delighted to welcome our boroughs’ new Leaders to our powerful Joint Committee.

Cllr Erbil becomes the new Leader of Enfield Council

Cllr Ergin Erbil was elected as the new Leader of Enfield Council at the Full Council meeting on 18 September 2024.

Cllr Erbil was elected Labour councillor for Edmonton Green in 2018 and has been serving as the Council’s Deputy Leader since 2022. He has been the borough’s Interim Leader since July 2024 when Nesil Caliskan became the Labour MP for Barking, at the general election.

Read about Cllr Erbil’s priorities and Cabinet.

Cllr Twomey becomes the new Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council

In Barking and Dagenham, Cllr Dominic Twomey was elected as the new Leader of the Council at their full Assembly meeting also on 18 September.

Cllr Twomey has served the borough as a councillor since 2010, and has been Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services for the last 10 years.

He takes over from Cllr Darren Rodwell who was Leader of the Council and former Chair of Local London. Cllr Rodwell championed the needs of the sub-region and under his leadership, Local London expanded its portfolio of programmes, offering greater benefit to all its member boroughs.

Read about Cllr Twomey’s appointment.

Cllr Rai, Leader of Redbridge Council

Following over a decade serving the borough as a councillor and six years as Deputy Leader, Cllr Kam Rai was elected as the new Leader of Redbridge Council at the full council meeting on 25 July 2024.

Cllr Rai succeeds Cllr Athwal, who led the council for over a decade before stepping down following his election as the Member of Parliament for Ilford South.

Read Cllr Rai’s reaction.

Our Joint Committee members

Local London’s strategic direction is set by the elected Leaders of our member authorities, they sit on our Joint Committee, led by a Chair who holds the position for a two-year term.

The Council Leaders and Mayor on our Joint Committee are:

Discover more about Local London’s governance

The Local London Work and Health Programme has supported over 20,000 people across our nine boroughs, including many who were a long way from the job market to get more work ready and find sustainable jobs they enjoy.

Through the programme, Maximus UK provide tailored employability support, skills training, as well as health and well-being support to enable people to progress on their journeys back into employment, or into work for the first time.

Launched in 2016, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, and the European Social Fund (2016 – 2023), Maximus can take referrals from Job Centre Plus and from external referral organisations to enable people living in our nine boroughs who are unemployed, or have long-term health conditions and/or disabilities to access the programme.

Contact Maximus to find out more: whp.maximusuk.co.uk/london.

Hear how the Work and Health Programme is helping Shirley

One of the thousands of people we have helped through the programme is Shirley. Shirley spoke to us about her experience on the programme and how the team at Maximus is helping her. Watch the video below to hear her story, or read it below.

⇒Watch Shirley’s Interview

Read Shirley’s story

Shirley: “I’m Shirley Beard and I’m 59 years old.”

Interviewer: Can you tell us about the programme?

Shirley: “Well it’s a work programme getting [people] into work or training sessions or that sort of thing.”

Interviewer: What do you do in the programme?

Shirley: “At the moment I’m doing a workshop and an exercise class every week.”

Interviewer: How has it helped you, Shirley?

Shirley: “It’s helped me a lot, getting out of myself and out of my shell, and working with the work programme and them trying to get me into work, and I am very happy being on that course. And I’ve started walking a lot more now. The exercise classes have helped me. They are a lot of help.”

Interviewer: How has it been most beneficial to you?

Shirley: “It has brought all my health problems down a bit more and that’s one thing I do love about Maximus.”

Interviewer: Anything else to add?

Shirley: “I want to say thank you very much for helping me to get me where I am now.”

Find out more

Discover the Local London Work and Health programme funded by the DWP.

Related news

Discover more news from our employment programmes.

People from Enfield turned up in great number motivated to find out about live vacancies and training opportunities to help them find their next career steps at the Enfield Recruitment Day in October 2023.

Held at Green Towers Community Centre, Edmonton, the Recruitment Day was hosted in partnership with the skills and employment team at Enfield Council, and Maximus our delivery partner for our employment programmes.

Over 350 residents came eager to talk to employers about current and future openings, and to learn about how to make their CVs stand out at the expert-led workshops.

Happy resident from Enfield who got an interview on the day holding a board saying 'I got an interview'

In addition to job opportunities, many local colleges came to showcase the range of courses on offer to help people further their employment prospects, and wider support was on offer from Enfield Council and The Samaritans to help people facing additional barriers to taking up work.

Employers and colleges were delighted with the response from local residents, remarking on the quality of candidates and the high number of people they would contact or hoping to see apply following the event. Among them were 43 Enfield residents who are on the Local London Work and Health Programme, 18 of whom got a call back from employers after the event.

Photos from Enfield Recruitment Day 2023 showing the Warburton's leaflets on their stand, person from Rooff talking to a resident, the team from Wates talking to a visitor and person at Construction talking to a young person.

Nikkita Mulchandani, Managing Director at the Meridian Grand on Advent Way in Enfield summed up “Today has been fantastic. We are always looking to recruit people in the events sector and we have met an amazing range of candidates with skills from floristry to hospitality to events, so there’s a lot in there and a lot of what we’re looking for we’ve found at this Recruitment Fair in Enfield.”

Cassandra, from Enfield who secured an interview on the day said “Now that my daughter has started school I said right, now it’s my time to get back out there. I’d definitely recommend this to other people, because if you are like me and have lost your confidence coming here you can meet different people, do networking and sell yourself on the spot. Sometimes its nerve-wracking doing it over the phone, but [here] you can go to different recruiters and speak to different people. You can just be yourself.”

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for Culture, Public Spaces and Local Economy, Cllr Chinelo Anyanwu, said: “Enfield Council and its partners want to bring opportunities directly to you, to support local employment, training and skills development. Jobs mean security and better wellbeing which in turn helps to nurture stronger and happier local communities.”

Sarah Murray, Director of London added “Helping people into work and achieving a brighter economic outlook is key for all of the boroughs in the Local London partnership. It has been a pleasure working with the team at Enfield; this is something we would love to replicate across our boroughs to help people find out more about exciting opportunities near to them.”

Thank you to all the employers and training providers who helped make the day a massive success including: Amazon, Bright & Beautiful, Enfield Educators Connected, Enfield Careers, Enfield Housing, Enfield Samaritans, Enfield STEP, First Rung, Glenman, GP Garden Services, Jo Commercial Services, KLF Cleaning Services, M4 Recruitment, Maximus AEB, Maximus Work and Health Programme and Work and Health Programme Pioneer, McKenzie Arnold, Morgan Sindall/Hays, NHS Training Hub, North London Garages, Placing People Direct, Proud To Care, Quali Teach, Rooff, Teach Now, Tesco, TikTok, Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation, Warburtons, Wates.

Find out if you are eligible for support (all Local London boroughs)

Discover the Work and Health Programme (core) from Maximus.

Discover intensive Work and Health Programme Pioneer support from Maximus.

Employment support for people in Enfield

Find out about employment and cost of living support for people in Enfield

Related news

⇒Find out more about the recently launched Work and Health Pioneer support

⇒Find out about our Work and Health Programme

 

Photos from the Enfield Recruitment Day 2023 including First Rung Training.

Movers and Shakers

This is our new profile series spotlighting people in East London who are working to grow our region.

In our second interview, we caught up with Peter George, who is heading a pioneering council-led major £6 billion regeneration project that is transforming the Meridian Water site in Enfield. We asked Peter about the advantages and challenges of the council taking the helm of this enormous project to create a new city hub in Edmonton, and what it means for local people.

Meridian Water is an enormous redevelopment programme, what is your role and how did you get involved?

I am the Programme Director for Meridian Water which means I am one of the Council’s corporate directors and I am the senior officer leading this major £6 billion regeneration programme. I have been leading on Meridian Water for the past six years. When I began leading the project I also had other responsibilities including leading estate regeneration, economic development and the planning department, but since the Council took the decision to become the master developer in 2018 it became necessary for me to solely focus on delivering Meridian Water.

Meridian Water is being actively led by Enfield Council, this has been described as a pioneering approach – what have been the challenges and benefits of this approach? 

We do not believe that any other council in London is taking on the role of master developer on a major regeneration project like this. The role of master developer entails the Council being responsible for setting the overall vision, taking the strategic planning role, acquiring land, delivering transport and social infrastructure, estate management, and appointing partners to deliver the homes and employment projects.

Before leading on Meridian Water the Council attempted to facilitate development via a strategic planning role, but the market was turned off by the fragmented land ownership, poor public transport and contaminated land, so it was essential that the public sector stepped forward to facilitate this development opportunity.

There are massive benefits to this approach: we have greater control and therefore ability to deliver upon the priorities of the Council and local people. On the other side the associated challenges are the level of risk and financial exposure the Council has to manage.

How will Meridian Water meet residents’ needs and meet the Council’s priorities? 

Meridian Water aims to deliver 10,000 homes, 6,000 jobs and all of the health, education, rail, roads, shops, parks and restaurants needed to support a population of approximately 30,000 people. It is an incredible privilege to be leading such an ambitious and ground-breaking project and a huge responsibility to create a new piece of city.

We are proud that we are uniquely organising the entirety of the programme to directly benefit the local people of Edmonton – we want them to be the principal beneficiaries of all the growth and opportunities with the desire of creating a legacy where the area is no longer in the top 10% most deprived because we have enabled local people and businesses to prosper.

How is the project progressing, what have been the highlights so far?

An enormous amount of work has been done and we’ve passed some major milestones, some of the key successes so far are:

Finally, I am particularly proud to have established an incredibly talented, dedicated and dynamic team of people!

What is happening over the next few months and what do you hope to have achieved (all being well) in the coming year?

We are at year six of this 30-year programme and we are all really excited about what we can achieve in 2021. In fact, we recently signed a deal with Troubadour Theatres to build film and television studios, that will provide around 450 permanent jobs whilst a new film and TV skills academy will ensure hundreds of local people are trained up every year. Construction work is concluding, and the film studios could open as early as spring 2021. There is much more to come.

During spring our partner Vistry will start building the first 1,000 homes with first completions the following year.

In the summer our Tier 1 contractor will commence construction of the government funded infrastructure works including new parks, roads, bridges and cycle lanes.

This summer Building BloQs – new home for creative industry – will open the new workspace for thousands of freelance designers, makers and small businesses, many of them local residents.

In the autumn we will open an onsite construction skills academy training up local people so they can take advantage of the thousands of construction jobs Meridian Water and Enfield projects will generate.

We aim to obtain approval for the new Meridian Water masterplan, and we hope to appoint more partners and obtain more residential planning permissions. There’s a lot happening!

This is a development with lofty green ambitions what have you achieved so far and what are you looking forward to achieving?

The Meridian Water environmental sustainability strategy aims to achieve a carbon neutral development by 2030, reuse 30% of materials and deliver 30% green open space and we are on track to deliver all three of those headline targets.

We have already delivered a circular economy project, improved the carbon performance of the first developments and the Council has established its own energy company – Energetik which will provide green energy to all 10,000 homes. Energitik will provide low carbon heat through a series of community heat networks and reduce the buildings’ carbon footprint for heating by 80%.

Find out more

You can find out more about everything that is happening at www.meridianwater.co.uk

We have submitted 3 bids to the Strategic Investment Pot, which is overseen by the City of London.

Our bids, if awarded, would support work around digital infrastructure, productivity escalator and e-business development.

The bid process included contributions from all eight authorities, and we have pitched for around £20 million in total.

We will be updated later this year about the next steps.

We are in the middle of bidding for ERDF funding to support carbon reduction.

Our bid will focus on supporting businesses and boroughs to reduce carbon emissions. We will put forward our bid by the 30 September with a decision expected later in the year.

Other bidding opportunities are expected to emerge in this financial quarter, such as the London Growth Fund.

Staff from Local London have attended a workshop about this funding stream, which is pitched at project and/or borough level. Some projects could inevitably cross borders. We are happy to work with boroughs who are keen to submit an application around a specific project idea.