London's recovery starts with you

I strongly believe that HGVs must be equipped with either a system of mirrors or a system of cameras, so they can view their blind spots and we can avoid the tragic deaths of cyclists.

HGVs without either system should be banned from London!

There is a long-term shift away from shopping in person and towards Internet shopping instead.  This has been happening for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to happen afterwards.

In the last few decades of the twentieth century many houses at the ends of high streets were converted into shops.

We need to accept this long-term shift and convert shops into dwellings, both shops that were previously houses and some other shops too.

This would allow more people to live within 15 minutes of their local high street.

However, it would be much better done with proper Local Authority Planning Department and Building Control oversight, to avoid creating the slums of the future.

I agree with the necessary focus on outer London High Streets and Broadways. They should be a place to shop and connect. In Cricklewood we have lots of shops but nowhere to dwell such as a community space, a place where residents and visitor can meet in comfort, away from the busyness of the A5 corridor, to chat, challenge, plan a better place for all of us. Focus on encouraging local people to create the master plan that delivers a pleasant, safe space for all the generations. 

In Kentish Town and Tufnell Park we have a lovely high street, which can be used as a study for other neighbourhoods. It would be amazing to see a similar vibe and diversity in other areas of London! 

I'm not sure working within 15 min of your home is realistic though.

In the short/medium term I think less emphasis needs to be put on Central London and more emphasis needs to be put on local centres . It is probably unrealistic to go for harking back to the empty /distressed High Streets being revived but to lock at ocentres that show a bit of potential . For example Bromley has a very good covered shopping centre and a part pedestrianised High street ( which is probably too long ) and just needs a bit of tweeking to get more office accomodation .  On the other hand Orpington and Petts Wood as local satalite centres need to be made more concentrated and get rid of their long under utilised High Streetsand activate more commercial activity .Local authorities need to revise their parking restrictions which inhibit use and make new local centres more car friendly .It is the local authorities that need the most shaking up with their money making attitudes to car parking and parking costs as revenue generators . They need to be much more human in their approach to attracting and responding to local people than being revenue seeking predators .  A new people oriented approach could make London an attractive place to live and act  as a life enhancing support to local residents reducing the tedium of travelling to and from Central London as a work centre .  Lets have more local traders offering a spirited local service to residents and not the tedium of chain  restaurants and sandwich shops ietc and chain stores  overpriced and poor services of the central area . An assault on the local centres may also in time lead to a better experience of central London where they have to compete with the individualism and vitality of local centres

I live in the 'West End'. Oxford Street has been blighted for the last few years by plans to 'pedestrianise' it. These plans have been top down without regard to reality on the ground. Oxford Street grew up around an important route into the City of London from Oxford. The fact it was on so many bus routes made it very visible and very accessible. In recent years high rents have driven out all but a few successful department stores and the rest of the shops are mainly predictable high street chains. However for shoppers- and the thousands of people working there - it  still had the advantage of being easily accessible by bus. Increasingly many shoppers preferred to visit high street chains nearer home than see the same thing in central London. The diverting of buses away from Oxford Street (going round through side streets) removed one of Oxford Street's main attractions. It is still an important bus route into the City- whether it is mainly high end retail is another matter. Nowadays independent shops are more popular and also many people have no money to spend on 'shopping' . Universities in London need more space and it would be a great place for lecture halls, studios, exhibition space, cinemas, dance studios, housing and housing...

In order to support local businesses local authorities should make better use of the Social Value Act. This would ensure that more money was circulating in local economies rather than seeing money from LA contracts being awarded to large multinational organisations (eg local schools and libraries could buy books from local bookshops instead of directly from publishers or Amazon). 
 

Business rates are also urgently in need of change. Retailers pay a disproportionate amount and it's not sustainable. Continued relief is needed for the retail and hospitality industries in the short term to allow them to weather the Covid storm. In the long run rates need to be shared more equally among sectors. Large warehouses and distribution centres need to pay more and small high street businesses less. Empty property relief also needs urgent review to discourage landlords from leaving their properties to lie empty.

I am very against any extension of permitted development rights. Although the high st needs to change in the future it has to be done with proper scrutiny and an element of planning. Community groups and BIDs should be involved in decisions when it comes to the change of use of properties.

Do yourselves a favour. Read the book "Economic Facts and Fallacies" and take some of the lessons from there. Why do I say this? Because you noted:
"London has more than 600 high streets and 90% of Londoners live within 10 minutes of their high street. Even before the pandemic, some of our high streets faced several challenges including changes in consumer demands and work patterns and dwindling local authority resources which resulted in increased shop vacancies and impacts on attractiveness and investment."

Upon speaking to any number of individuals in a city of ~10million, plus many other tourists/travellers/shoppers/theatre-goers, etc. You will unsurprisingly find thousands of different life styles, shopping patterns, physical capabilities or disabilities, etc. Yet London has perversely taken the view (partly detailed by yourselves) of increasing cycling, and prohibiting cars on the road, and parking etc.

So let me replay an unpopular opinion. My aged parents, in their 60's, are not going to cycle to do the weekly shop. They'll drive. They aren't going to park a mile away from the theatre to walk in the cold and the rain; they'd prefer to drive. They aren't going to spend 1hr 50min on the bus to cross the inner City because it's the same speed as walking - except it comes with the added displeasure of being crammed full of people, which is just backwards thinking in a pandemic. I know the zeitgeist of the liberal/left London set is very anti-car; but cars provide personal independence and freedom for millions. They shop with cars. See friends, they go out, they get to sports grounds, etc. Maybe instead of being anti-car (which is by extension anti-people), you can think about facilitating car use as a preferred option, and reduce the pollution buses/taxis. Unsurprisingly people will take the route that is least onerous to their life - so just think critically about that. And accept differing viewpoints.

We need to move from the old model of a massive carbon emitting commute to an office block in central London.

We also need to adjust our business models to easily accessible and affordable workspaces in local areas.  This will help people working from home, which after the pandemic, should become the new normal as a much more sustainable way of working, by giving people access to local workspace.

Combined with this, there needs to be a dramatic reduction in punitive business rates.  People working in the public sector do not seem to grasp just how damaging rates are.  We are constantly being told High Streets need to be revitalised, but on the other hand, if you set up any business in a high street, you have the huge cost of inflated rents for shop and office space, then you get hit by the same again with business rates - the impact on a small business is like going to a family and saying "pay your rent - thanks - now pay the same amount again".

Business rates are an easy tax to hike, as it is easy to portray then as only something that happens to large companies who can afford it - but if you want a diverse high street with thriving local businesses instead of a monoculture of chain stores, we must make business rates and rent affordable for small businesses

I believe two things can help. (1) More pedestrianized areas building on the changes made in response to the pandemic. Being a frequent walker for business and shopping I still find that London is designed for cars and now bicycles but pedestrians have not had the attention they deserve.

(2) The business rates system needs reform. Governments have use this to collect ever increasing levels of taxation that most people are not aware of. I don't believe high street can recover if they  continue to be disadvantaged by the current business rates system

Our aims

Older Londoners to feel safe when they want to travel

Challenges

Evidence shows older Londoners are concerned about the safety of travelling on public transport which they are reliant on rather than walking or cycling or traveling by car. Whilst social distancing is in place then there are constraints on capacity of public transport. The free travel for older 60s has been suspended. Financial constraints on TfL may lead to routes being cut or longer waiting times which impact on essential travel such as hospital appointments.

This copy is a result of Positive Ageing in London's conference feedback:

How to get there

Improve public confidence in travelling by public transport in London through communicating safety provision

End the suspension of free travel for over 60s before 9am

Priority given to those older people who require it at bus stops and queuing into tube stations

Engage with older people organisations on any route changes or major frequency changes

The West End is dying. It feels like a ghost town. The stores and attractions generate much of the tax revenue that pays to keep many of London's vital services going.

What is being done to help them? The current TfL television commercial does not mention public transport at all. Is London really open for business? I used to travel into the West End to visit museums/art galleries, etc, perhaps some shopping followed by lunch. No way would I want to walk or cycle all way back to my home in Wandsworth afterwards. Many of my friends live much further out. Are we wanted in London? Where is the transport plan to encourage commuters back into the West End and City?

I believe that we only have a few months to save the West End economy. I cannot see any urgency or strategy coming from City Hall.

Research shows that many older people are lacking in confidence in shopping and going out for drinks and food again and are uncertain about what to expect and the safety considerations. This lack of confidence impedes them contributing to economic recovery - maximising the contribution of the "silver economy" to London. Various immediate measures are required : 

1. Better information on risks for older people and how to mitigate these and better communication of local information on Covid rates and any breakouts

2. Ensure safety measures are in place in all retail and hospitality establishments and these are widely publicised to older people - ensure the wearing of face coverings are enforced 

3. Publicise a London COVID Safe sign for establishments who follow good practise in COVID security

4. Work with bodies such local Chambers of Commerce, Save the High Street and Federation of Small Businesses that risk assessments on COVID consider the needs of older people e.g. queuing and seating areas

5. Ensure cash can be used for purchases by older people where necessary

6. Ensure older people have suitable toilet facilities available on high streets

7. Ensure the safety of public transport 

8. Ensure street changes  include an assessment of older people and disabled needs

Alsofromlondon sure, when I am going to work I use the tube but if I am going to the laundrette with the weekly washing, with three, four big, heavy bags I will not use the tube or bus; if I am taking my pets to the vet, same, or if I am going to the doctor feeling sick I will not. But this is not about my life. You may be able-bodied now but how about the disabled and I am sure when you will need a plumber or builder or even when you will get your next delivery they will not have come by tube or bus and your shop shelves will not fill up by loads that have been carried on the tube or bus and all those journeys will now take longer and will have caused more pollution that even you, the bus and tube user will breathe in. I do not want more pollution and this is what is going to be the result of this very stupid policy.

“The London Recovery Board are planning for London's long-term recovery and with help from Talk London members over the past few months, have identified a number of missions that would help make London a fairer, greener, more open and vibrant city than what it was before.” I suppose this phrase means something different to different people or it is a lot of fried air. How can this be true when you are closing London roads, making it very difficult for workers, the disabled and for Londoners in general to be able to enjoy the city. How can I appreciate walking on the side of a queue of traffic breathing in fumes? How can I appreciate being obliged to live in a city that is being reduced to polluted ghettos? Live in a 15 minutes area? If I wanted to do that I would move to a village but being in one of the largest cities in the World should be something completely different. I find your decisions despicable and completely out of touch with how Londoners live. We are not all fit young and time rich. A lot of people need to use their cars and vans to do their jobs and to carry weights. You are creating an inordinate amount of unnecessary pollution and making the lives of ordinary people a misery. You are taking away free travel for children and the elderly and spending money on dividing communities. You are very far from creating a fairer, greener, more open and vibrant city; quite the opposite.

I love this initiative! Before lockdown I almost never spent time locally, but being forced to spend more time within walking/cycling distance has reminded me of the benefits of local connections. Enabling walking and cycling is at the heart of making it work, with knock-off effects for our health and wellbeing

Some high streets (or parts of high streets) are far too busy with cars (stuck in traffic or speeding) with wide multi lane roads, bus lanes, no trees, no parking for the disabled, and narrow pavements. This plan needs to cover every parade of commercial shops.

High rents and business rates as well as being polluted and unnatural environments, mean all but budget chain stores or bars with high profit margins or shops that seem to sell nothing at all (laundering?) seem to survive in some areas (survival of the maximum profit businesses) is not sustainable (economically or environmentally).

Retail parks are not the answer. and shouldn't be included. Commercial property being owned by local people rather than multinational businesses respond better to local needs and are more sustainable in the long run, both economically, and environmentally. Multi national commercial property owners are seeking guaranteed profits for shareholders - essentially taking money away from the locality.

Laws on upkeep and ownership of commercial property would help to diversify our high streets and give small business owners and local people a chance. 

Even though much of the architecture in London is stunning (we're lucky to have still have so many old unique buildings), they are often poorly maintained for lack understanding or interest of old building materials.

It is a joy to travel by bike or on foot. Especially when there are cycle lanes. Sometimes I become more dependent on my car, and I start feeling more lacking in energy for it. And when tired or have a problem with my bike, I can take it on the train. This wont work for the disabled and elderly, so it is important that roads and parking around high streets are prioritized for these people.

I am extremely worried that TfL are deliberately penalising road transport, cynically orchestrating and exacerbating gridlock conditions, to make car travel so slow, expensive, stressful, unpleasant that people are forced out of their cars. 

I'm a massive public transport enthusiast. There isn't space for EVERYBODY to have a car and use it for every journey willy-nilly, especially in central and inner London. REDUCING car use is a reasonable aspiration. That will already be a virtually impossible if authorities insist on building more and more blocks of flats everywhere on every scrap of land, pumping up and up the population and population density, without having the intention, the money, the political will, or the space, to build more supporting infrastructure (roads, Tube lines, schools, hospitals, train routes) so logically every single inch of public domain space has become more and more overcrowded and overburdened.

OK Crossrail will (eventually) be beneficial for capacity on ONE east-west corridor, but that corridor has already been crammed with hundreds of blocks of flats in anticipation of its opening so it will be full from day one, and it is of zero utility to the rest of London.

The A406 through Enfield NEEDS tunnelling. It is delusional to imagine traffic on that strategic route will ever reduce, and the gridlock will only get worse, and it is already one of the worst bottlenecks in the whole country.

The policy/strategy sometimes seems to be: less movement. Stay in your homes. Stay in your local areas. Narrow down the horizons of your life. Don't drive out to the countryside. Don't drive out to local towns and villages. Don't bother taking public transport into inner London as it's too full. Just stay in or near your home. The future sometimes seems like a much less free world to live in, far fewer options, as London fills up and everywhere is packed.

A few jobs in shops aren't enough to make a sustainable local economy. Most people will still have to go to zone 1 for jobs, friends, life. It's the whole point for which most people moved to London in the first place. People don't move from overseas or from other regions of the country to pay through the nose for the privilege to live in the Greater London to then live their whole day-to-day life in Enfield Town or Whetstone or Penge or Harrow. The whole model of London as a mega-city is becoming unviable.

City-centre inner-urban people who benefit from the global and cosmopolitan and exciting amenities of central London on their doorstep, OK you can understand them being able to be car-free and just enjoy walking and cycling to Covent Garden or whatever. 

But if your life is confined to a suburb, you can't cycle/walk into the city centre, but some people are suggesting that the people of Enfield or Bromley can't have their car to drive out to the nearby towns and villages over the border where there is virtually no public transport and distances are much longer?

Remember, many people only moved to zone 4/5/6 suburbs because they were priced out of the inner area where their friends and jobs and lifestyles are. The overcrowding and neglect of public transport plus the obsession with cycling/walking cuts them off from central London, but the vendetta against cars cuts them off from the countryside across the border and locks them into their local area.

The outer-London suburban towns would be turned into suffocating open prisons: you can't go into central London and you can't leave London either.

There will never be plenty of well-paid, creative, graduate-level jobs in Edgware AND Enfield Town AND Croydon AND Streatham. That's a ludicrous delusion. Most jobs (beyond generic retail/food service jobs) will by definition be concentrated in a central area.

Don't trap us in our suburbs.