News from Caroline Russell: London’s recovery needs 15-minute neighbourhoods

The capital has a chance to create more local ways of working, living and socialising, while enabling the green recovery that London and the UK needs. [1]

At today’s Mayor’s Question Time, Caroline Russell AM questioned the Mayor on what he is doing to plan for 15-minute neighbourhoods, where Londoners can live, work and access services within an easy walk of their home.

London now has the highest rate of home working in the country [2] and far too many people have had to improvise offices in bedrooms or at kitchen tables because their homes aren’t big enough to provide separate workstations.

The Mayor said he is looking at ‘using TfL to see if we can provide local office space’ and revealed that he working with local councils to provide temporary working space as well.

Caroline Russell says:

I presented the Mayor today with three needs that communities have as London recovers – space to work, space for the local economy and space for growing – and he was supportive of all three.

Londoners have improvised offices in their bedrooms or at their kitchen tables – but may need spaces they can go to, when the building work outside is too noisy, or their internet fails. The Mayor has responded to my call for workspace with the offer of space in TfL offices and through work with councils, I look forward to hearing more.

As we come out of lockdown, we are still living very local lives. We need to rethink how London’s roads can support Londoners and businesses. Simply getting tables and chairs into a street to let cafes reopen safely, or greening parking bays to provide space for communities to grow plants and relax can be transformative.

People across London will be so glad to hear that the Mayor is supporting the call for car parking to be turned over to gardens. With green space at such a premium, we need to turn the grey green, boost London’s biodiversity and help Londoners’ wellbeing.

Cafes, bars and community spaces in London need space to restart serving their communities. Caroline praised changes allowing Northcote Road in Battersea to be opened up as space for seating for local businesses at weekends. The Mayor supported providing this space saying ‘businesses desperately need custom to open outdoors in summer’ and supported further such changes across London.

The 15-minute neighbourhood also requires quick and easy access to green space. Fields in Trust’s Green Space Index shows that Londoners have the lowest amount of publicly accessible park and green space at just 18.96 sqm per person [3]. The Mayor was supportive of parklets for greening ‘ugly concrete parking spaces’, which also have the benefit of connecting neighbours and creating ‘a sense of civic pride’