Evening Standard comment: New vision for the capital’s public spaces

The Government’s infrastructure plan, unveiled today, promises large-scale investment across the country in every kind of development. But one aspect of it is especially significant for London: the evolution of the Olympic park as a centre for innovative design, technology and the arts.

The Victoria and Albert Museum will be opening a centre there to showcase part of its contemporary collection and provide more space for modern exhibitions as well as a conservation centre. UCL too will have a base there for an institute focusing on technology and design. City Hall is negotiating with other institutions but it is clear that the Olympic park is now a focus for economic and technological development rather than just housing. The inspiration for the plans is the complex of institutes of arts and learning which was developed in Kensington with proceeds from the Great Exhibition of 1851, and named after Prince Albert. The benefits of that Victorian far-sightedness are still with us.

Another infrastructure project which promises to attract visitors is Thomas Heatherwick’s bold and beautiful plan for a garden bridge between Temple and the South Bank. The Chancellor today launched an appeal for funds to see the project through to completion. As he says, it will “bring a new kind of public space into the centre of our capital … showcasing the best of British design”. The Treasury has already contributed £30 million of taxpayers’ money to kickstart the appeal, the Mayor has pledged £30 million from TfL and £30 million is pledged from private donors. London is already blessed with its parks but this pleasing green space spanning the river would be something new.

These projects are distinctively modern kinds of infrastructure: a valuable means of attracting investment but also sources of cultural interest and excitement. Both will add to the vitality and beauty of the capital.

The managing director of Harrods, Michael Ward, has warned that a new initiative to ease visa requirements to the Schengen area could mean that London loses out, yet again, to other European capitals in attracting overseas visitors. European Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani is hoping to relax visa requirements to the 25 countries in the Schengen area, particularly for visitors from China, Russia and South America, as part of an EU effort to boost the luxury goods market. These are precisely the wealthy tourists that London should attract.

Britain has already made modest progress in making the entry requirements for Chinese visitors easier and less bureaucratic — but it is a continuing effort. Visitors to Europe should regard London as an obvious and necessary part of their itinerary, yet it remains the case that visitors to Paris spend significantly more than those in London on account of France’s easier visa regime. This is not an issue to do with border security; it is about attracting visitors and trade. The Prime Minister, in the wake of his Chinese visit, should be keenly aware of that.

Combine the razzmatazz of celebrity with the greatest dramatist and what do you get? An upsurge of interest in Shakespeare even from those who do not perhaps always gravitate to the Bard. Jude Law’s take on Henry V has attracted large numbers of his fans to the Noël Coward theatre. The combination gives gravitas to celebs — and popular appeal to Shakespeare.