Across the country, councils are setting up affordable workspaces to support micro businesses, SMEs, creatives, entrepreneurs and tech companies by offering genuinely affordable workspace well below market rates. Many micro and small businesses are priced out of the local property markets due to high rental cost of workspace or prohibitive lease terms which means workspace is dominated by larger national or international organisations that are less likely to source staff and services locally, depriving the local economy. Lewisham, Islington, Lambeth and Southampton have all set up affordable workspaces, either through their planning strategies or using disused council buildings and space in shopping centres. In Lambeth alone, the affordable workspace scheme has already helped support over 200 local businesses and over 400 jobs.