A fair and bright future for Bexley
Welcome to the 2050 Blog. This is a space for sharing stories, reflections and updates from our partners helping to shape Bexley’s future.
We’ll be regularly adding entries.
The 2050 Partnership has made fantastic progress over the summer, as we move towards developing practical action plans to realise our ambitions.
It was a pleasure to meet with my fellow 2050 subgroup chairs on Monday to let each other know our progress and coordinate our actions. I chair the Goal 1 subgroup – ‘Bexley: a great place to be’. To me, this means making sure that our residents are getting the most out of the borough and truly love where they live – that might include supporting arts and culture, protecting our parks, or making sure our towns and villages are thriving.
Since our full Partnership meeting in May, I’ve led 4 subgroup meetings to discuss what we think are the key concerns and actions to achieve this goal, working with a variety of partners, such as the Exchange in Erith, Bird College, the local Business Improvement Districts, and the libraries. It was so rewarding to come together to discuss the contributions we can each make to this Goal, and draft a shared action plan.
I was proud to share this progress with the other 2050 Chairs, and it was great to hear about the progress they have been making towards their Goals. This was a great opportunity to see where our groups sometimes overlapped and we had shared goals – we can pool our ideas and resources and work together towards something stronger.
Overall, it was a very successful meeting – it was really energising to hear how much activity and enthusiasm there has been across each of the subgroups. Our next steps are to finalise our action plans, coordinating with each other to make sure they complement well, before our next full Partnership meeting in the autumn."
John Lewis, Executive Director, Thamesmead at Peabody
1 September 2025
I was delighted to attend my first 2050 Partnership meeting recently. As a later addition to the Partnership, I was slightly concerned with catching up – however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the membership is ever-evolving, as we expand our networks and reach out to more local partners who we feel can make a valuable contribution.
We met in the Learning and Enterprise College – we were grateful for such a great host! Approximately 50 partners joined the meeting, and there was a fantastic energy in the room. Partners across this range of industries rarely have such an opportunity to connect and network, so everybody was excited to make the most of the day, building a strong network of local Bexley leaders which will help us all to deliver better results in Bexley.
During the meeting, we discussed our shared vision for a future of growth, aspiration and ambition for Bexley. The most exciting part of this initiative is the collaborative spirit that is driving work forward. This project is bringing people together who genuinely care about Bexley – and who are ready to get involved and make change happen.
As a Partnership, we have agreed on five key shared goals for Bexley’s future, and have established five ‘delivery groups’ to achieve them. As the Deputy CEO and Principal of London South East Colleges, I am proud to be Chairing Delivery Group 5: ‘taking advantage of the skills and employment opportunities of the future’. We discussed the importance of making sure that Bexley workers have skills and qualifications that are fit for the future, and that prepare them for the industries that Bexley has to offer. To do this, we plan on forming a learning and skills alliance between schools and businesses to understand what businesses are looking for. We are also planning to support students and workers to develop their green skills, and their STEM and construction skills, to thrive in our jobs market.
We are now, in our delivery groups, developing detailed action plans to help our organisations collaborate on the practicalities of achieving these goals. Working together in this way will help ensure a thriving, sustainable local economy. I’m proud to be part of this shared effort and I look forward to what we can achieve together."
Asfa Sohail, Deputy CEO and Principal of London South East Colleges
16 July 2025