London's recovery starts with you

I've lived in London since 1986 and am soewhat pessimistic about London's future. I don't believe the current government or Sadiq Khan have any real plans for getting London back on its feet. In fact I think there is a a continuous and sustained move to make sure its economy is destroyed so that other cities can take its place. We are told to avoid public transport unless working in the essential services, not to use our cars as this creates terrible pollution but how can we support our central London businesses when it's inclement weather and we can't ride our bicycles? 7am - 10pm CC 7 days a week is the death knell for central London enterprises as we go into autumn/winter. And nobody in government cares. So, look forward to even more of a ghost city where yiu feel unsafe after dark but also in the daytime's quiet and deserted streets with hardly any police to be seen - as a woman it's  very unsettling.

If civil society in all its diversity is to genuinely participate in shaping London, we need better ways for people to do so. Citizen Assemblies are an important tool for inclusion of people and development of policies. They are a great form of deliberative democracy and here is a good example: https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/   I have participated in some discussion dialogues on highly technical issues where the public have shown themselves to be very insightful, for example on synthetic biology, where participants had no prior knowledge, but through careful questioning and evaluation, they came to wise decisions.

In a Citizen Assembly, party affiliations are irrelevant; people learn from each other and they can call for information from specialists to help them make decisions. Many participants in the Irish Citizen Assembly of 2016-18 were unsure at first but most were persuaded of the value by the end. Participants  were randomly chosen from the electoral register by a process of sortition  ‘a representative random sample of people’. This can be filtered, for example to choose people within a certain age group or culture etc. In Ireland, their decisions were put to a referendum and accepted which meant they were binding on the government. This is essential. Citizen assemblies are not just talking shops with no active outcomes. They are for 'the people' to make decisions about policy that government must follow.

Frankly I feel they are now essential, since government all too often seems polarised, driven by private interests, unaccountable, remote and untrustworthy. The party system needs serious overhaul and may be bankrupt - we need some examples of direct democracy rather than so-called representative democracy - a vote once every few years. Citizen Assemblies are a good example that has been tried and proved effective.

London is a ghost town at the moment.  The streets are deserted.  Social meeting places deserted too, or almost so.  People are just not coming into London West End and City to enjoy the huge range of facilities available to them.  The hit on employment is enormous.  Thousands now going unemployed.  Major social and family dislocation is upon us and it's not getting any better.  Covid 19 started it.  The Mayor and his government have added their deathly touches. Not least they have expanded congestion charging, Ulez and parking meters to 7 days a week until 10.00pm.  This is what friends tell me when they say they can't come into London to have dinner with me or to shop at the weekend.  £20 or £30 to add to a restaurant bill is just too much.  I'm sure our Mayor will argue that the changes make the air cleaner to breathe; and they are a bit short of money anyway.  The trouble is he is making sure that there won't be so many people around to breathe this fresh air, London without its vibrancy won't be a city worth visiting; and the economy based on street traffic will collapse leaving even more deserted, run down buildings; and with it the City's tax base.  I cannot imagine such vindictive stupidity.  Now of all times.  Why now when all of us want London to rise up to its former self, phoenix-like from the Covid flames?  London is the greatest city in the world.  Let's all work (and maybe vote!) to keep it that way.

The voice of older Londoners shouldn't be forgotten in recovery. 

A fundamental principle in addressing our needs is that older people are not all the same. Over 70s are not all vulnerable and in need. Stereotypes linger and can unconsciously creep into planning. Older Londoners are a truly diverse group with different needs, interests, and activities - who work, volunteer, and support the community.  And they are all individuals and vary like in any age group.

Any recovery plan needs to be based on hard evidence not assumptions about what older people are thought to need. Research is necessary to assess these needs in tandem with engagement with older people to hear their views and interpret findings. Recovery needs to be done with and not to older people. Positive Ageing in London has spoken with older people and developed proposals for a Recovery Plan see our contribution here: https://pailondon.org.uk/london-recovery-plan/

Its very upsetting to be obliged to travel on the tube when half the carriage cares nothing for anyone else's safety - blatantly pulling down their masks once they are on the train. In a strong civic society this would not happen, as everyone would understand that not wearing a mask puts other people with potential vulnerabilities at risk, and would take some responsibility for protecting other people. 

Health inequalities is fundamental.

I am also very worried about threats to our democracy. We need to devolve power, involve people, show people how their contribution makes a difference, and demonstrate how people in power are held to account.

Lockdown has highlighted the amount of people working from home on decent wages as opposed to those directly affected in their work/education and incomes -- the one opportunity there is for people to get more actively involved on a local level (instead of making the divide even more marked).

Community related initiatives have had cuts for years now so any additional funding and support for young people, women/kids/people who will be especially vulnerable or at increased risk of domestic violence during further lockdowns would be great.

There were various locally organized initiatives providing support during COVID so any increase in funding and effectiveness/accessibility in those areas (councils / public health etc.) and whichever kind of support is allowed for charities could also be good.

It would be great to know that these can be quick to join or benefit from as well (several services have waiting times of weeks -- mental health support being one).

Last but not least - just partially related but as the past point mentions 'planning of the city': I cannot stress how upsetting the 'redevelopment' of most of London by now is, which ironically often replaces places that were vital on a community level. Anything on the planning permissions of things should be done because it feels like so many buildings are now partially inhabited and/or given at extortionate conditions, dismissing the whole point of building up on existing communities.

I think that funding for community projects is really important. There are so many amazing organisations out there that volunteer their time to offer great opportunities to people, which brings the community together and gives people connections, as well as making sure they are engaged in meaningful, productive activities. During the coronavirus pandemic, communities came together to run local support groups or mutual aid organisations, and I think there is a good opportunity here to build on this community spirit and encourage similar behaviour to continue in the future.

I am wondering if you are interested in coming to this public meeting organised by BritBanglaCovid.com  - we speak about the impact Covid had on Bangladeshis in Britain. 

The public meeting on 23 August 2020 at 3pm - issues for discussion - Health & Social Care crisis. You can find it here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-social-care-crisis-for-britbangla…

There are some excellent voluntary organisations in London - with amazing  volunteers and  extremely dedicated staff.  A very high proportion of these organisations are reliant on local authority funding.  Many local authorities  no longer grant fund these organisations, but make these organisations bid, via competetive tenders, for contracts. Local authorities often seem to regard these Civil Society organisations as 'suppliers' in a 'market'  and fail to recognise many of these organisations are very well respected, well established community organisations, providing very valuable services. 

The commissioning exercises, which are often time consuming and complex, waste everyone's time, distract the staff running these organisations from  their core work of supporing their communities and create uncertainty for service users, volunteers and staff.  In many cases, the local authority officers know that if they decided to award the contract to a new or different organisation, they would effectively close a well established and respected community organisation - which would benefit no one. 

Local authorities should restore grant funding for essential civil society organisations and stop treating these organisations as if they were were public sector outsourcing companieis such as Capita.    Local authorities often talk about partnerships with the voluntary sector but commissioning does  not encourage  partnerships that benefit the councils, organisations and service users.  Commissioning leads to transactional  or even adversarial relationships with organisations being pressured in to meeting the requirements of the contract rather than the evolving needs of the community.  

Each borough has an umbrella body or organisation mainly known as CVS (Councils for Voluntary Services) these are not a part of the local authorities. These CVS will be a good starting point in helping to build a civil society, especially as many of them have a volunteer centre or works closely with a volunteer centre. These CVS should be well funded by funders and the local authorities.

Given the surge in volunteerism and goodwill towards common endeavour, why not use local councils to offer more such opportunities. Park tidy ups, visiting and bringing together different people from the community for simple fun and games. We are really enjoying the pedestrianised zones brought in for Summer weekends. Having shoppers, diners, walkers all together on the streets is wonderful for community cohesion.

Organisations such as neighbourhood watch can also contribute positively to policing and education institutions. Making positive use of school buildings out of hours for gatherings, adult learning and sharing. Simple things like movie nights and pizza parties cost very little (and can be sponsored by local businesses) but can come with services and opportunities to chat, seek help, network and just doing things with your wider community. Parent run homework clubs, extracurricular activities rather than asking teachers to do it all. Perhaps the police can run some fun youth projects to build relationships with their communities. Politicians could host evenings around their constituencies.

Anything to rehumanise our neighbours and those with whom we share our city.

I believe that strong civil society is one where political/community discourse is conducted with integrity, respect and is evidence based.  Without this, individuals will become increasingly mistrustful of each other and of their elected representatives.  We need to reverse the current trend towards cynical politics and politicians. 

Not sure whether this is the right forum but I feel very STRONGLY that going forward all boroughs including H and F NEED more public toilets.... We live in a cul de sac and our planting areas are constantly being used as a toilet and rubbish bin. We live opposite Brook Green where more and more people are picnicking thus needing to relieve themselves... More public toilets please!

point 2 Please think very carefully about cycle lanes. Around Hammersmith there are very wide, underused cycle lanes which, combined with oddly timed, road works have and continue to cause disruption....... Recently I have had to walk a long way to a bus stop as two were closed due to cycle lanes.... This may have been sorted by now but wasn't carefully thought through initially....

I am seeing decisions made hastily without thinking through the consequences... 

Thank you for reading,

Jane Armstrong

My experience of London boroughs , and I have lived i n five different ones over the years- is basically one of incompetence. They are fine at talking about what they want to do but generally hopeless at doing anything.,One shake-up would be to get rid of 'one-party' councils by introducing a system of proportional  representation in local elections. It will not necessarily make them more competent but it may cut down on the institutional corruption  that sits hand in glove with one party control