Recovering from coronavirus – it begins with you
COVID-19 has had a major impact on our city. London’s economy and businesses have been severely hit, as well as local communities with too many families being left bereaved.
The challenges posed to our economy, society, health and environment by the pandemic also bring about opportunities for change in all of those areas. Now is our chance to remake London a fairer, greener, more open and vibrant city than what it was before. We cannot go back to business as usual.
Progress so far
In preparation for the September 2020 Recovery board meeting a slide deck was prepared. A presentation for the London Recovery Programme putting the missions in context.
We have also produced an overview report of what has happened so far for the recovery programme, which can be downloaded below.
Sign up to have your say
We’ve already kick-started a period of deep consultation and conversation with Londoners from all walks of life to see how we can meet the challenge of recovery together.
You can read more about how this feedback is starting to shape the road to recovery and sign up to add your voice by joining Talk London.
So how are we approaching this immense challenge?
In response to the crisis and the new opportunities that we face, the Mayor convened London’s leaders from business, the community and education sectors and essential services to form a London Recovery Board, chaired by Sadiq and in partnership with London Councils.
The Recovery Board first met on 4 June and agreed that it would work to the following priorities:
- reverse the pattern of rising unemployment and lost economic growth caused by the economic scarring of COVID-19
- support our communities, including those most impacted by the virus
- help young people to flourish with access to support and opportunities
- narrow social, economic and health inequalities
- accelerate delivery of a cleaner, greener London
As guiding principles, addressing social, economic and health inequalities, delivering a cleaner, greener London, and ensuring Londoners are at the heart of recovery were identified by the Board as cutting across all of the work on London's Recovery.
The work of the Recovery programme and the missions should be understood with these cross-cutting themes running through them.
It should also be noted that the crucial issue of Housing is picked up in the work of the Housing Recovery Taskforce.
We reached out and spoke to Londoners on those priorities, and what we got back was a broad consensus and endorsement of those areas as being key to our recovery as well as additional points for consideration. Read more about what Londoners have told us so far on Talk London.
As we enter the next phase of the process, we want to not only continue, but widen and expand our engagement with Londoners. We want to bring Londoners together into the most far ranging, and dynamic conversation on the future of our city that has ever taken place.
Sign up now to Talk London to be a part of it.
Frequently asked questions
Still have questions? Below you will find some of the most frequently asked.
The challenge facing London requires the institutions of this city to work together like never before. The Mayor has worked with London Councils to convene the London Recovery Board. This Board is co-chaired by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the Chair of London Councils, Cllr Georgia Gould, and it will co-ordinate the planning for London's future post- COVID. It is supported by a Recovery Taskforce, which will coordinate actions to meet these challenges, working in partnership with local authorities, health and care bodies, business groups, trade unions, the voluntary sector, academia, national Government and other bodies.
The London Recovery Board has identified one grand challenge for the Recovery Programme:- to restore confidence in the city, minimise the impact on communities and build back better the city’s economy and society. To meet this challenge, a set of nine missions have so far been agreed. You can read more about the journey so far in this overview paper.
Organisations from City Hall to local authorities and community and mutual aid groups have seen Londoners, come together and demonstrate the enduring strength and spirit of the city. And during this crisis we have all seen the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on different communities further exacerbating deep seated inequalities. Our suburbs are changing and local economies and high streets have been particularly affected, and there are significant pressures on the services that London Boroughs, the Greater London Authority (GLA), Transport for London (TfL) and others deliver.
The Recovery Board is very mindful that responding to the pandemic will – for many organisations - take precedence over planning for recovery while cases are rising.
But it is precisely because of what we have learned during this crisis – both the value of closer partnership working and the damaging impact of this pandemic on our economy and society – that we must use this as an opportunity to reimagine our city and define our aspirations and priorities for the recovery effort.
It is crucial that all Londoners and organisations can influence, shape and participate in our city’s recovery from COVID-19.
The Recovery Programme has so far included public engagement on the Talk London online platform community engagement, surveys of the business community, borough-led engagement and other sector specific stakeholder engagement.
Over the course of this process there have been high rates of participation including:
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68,937 total site visits to Talk London (52,272 unique)
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1,100 comments from 609 members (aged 16-87)
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700 business stakeholders surveyed and posted to 32,500 LinkedIn followers.
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70 community conversations submitted from 60 different organisations involving over 1,000 Londoners.
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26 community grant applications awarded, with a focus on BAME Young People, BAME women, Disabled, Migrant/Refugee/Asylum seekers, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Somali, Armenian, Black African/Caribbean, and Portuguese speaking communities.
For more information and to read more about what Londoners have been saying about the recovery missions visit the Talk London website, and read the key findings from community based conversations.
- Join Talk London community and have your say by visiting - /talk-london/
- Sign up to receive updates from the London Recovery Board below.
The London Recovery Programme looks at a range of important policy issues. You can read more about the journey so far in this overview paper.
Sign up to receive updates from the London Recovery Board
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