Planning our future London

I have been a researcher for a campaign to end sexual harassment, and much can be achieved through the design of our towns. Beside the obvious things like well-lit streets, having restaurants and businesses which open late and spill onto the street make people feel safer because there are other people out at night. Parks are often a place where people feel unsafe. Girls withdraw from public parks at age 10 on average. Zaha Hadid designed a public park in Bratislava with netball courts, lots of foot paths, access on both sides to public transport, and bright lighting throughout, to encourage use by women. 
We need gentle density. That is, walkable neighbourhoods comprising of 3 to 7-storey high buildings where everyone can walk to public transport.  

We need a town centre that is nice - to shop, eat & drink, do culture/activities and hang out for everyone. People can work closer to home, travel less and have better quality life. This will be a place for everyone - for the older to youngest people where everyone feel their needs are catered for.  

High streets are unsafe for vulnerable people and parks are worse. Knives, dogs, drunks, gangs, druggies, litter, noise. All are encouraged, the planners call getting people drunk a 'hospitality industry'  Cities are already abandoned by those in power, and residents "thrown under the bus". They intend to do nothing about crime, and to continue giving over a million visas a year, plus do nothing about the millions without visas, apart from give them hotel rooms and money, which is not available to the old people of London, or the disabled people.   To protect all the voters of all parties, who don't want any trouble in their pleasant areas, the cities are to be turned into one solid mass of  tower blocks, using polluting concrete and steel. The air will kill. There will be no water, no police, no sewage no water no public services and the only people who dare venture onto the 'vibrant' high streets will be rival gangs. 

Solution for the Economic/ Governmental Crisis

Administration is an issue as it costs billions and stops people from creating more money and productivity. My idea is incorporating IA instructions and wide scale automation of admin tasks as a result. 

Yes, a thriving High Street makes you feel secure in your neighbourhood and encourages you there, but when there are so many empty shops it does bring down the sense of communal well being. More money invested on local start-ups would encourage growth, diversity and confidence. I agree, the City is viewed as the more lucrative place to work however, high travel costs deter many from seeking employment there. Better distribution of lucrative jobs across London along with extending the transport network south of the river where there are much fewer tube stations and which is the cheaper way to travel over trains which South London does have a good network of. 

More needs to be done about crime and cleanliness which will attract people/jobs.

Walking by Redridge station for example is like being on a dump site - who would want to work there let along live anywhere near there?

The streets are not safe, especially for women and crime is rife all over East London.  

None of the questions in this survey addressed this and it's a very serious problem and has to be tackled before everything else - there is no point 'rewilding' some green space and creating cycle paths for the sake of green PR in a neighbourhood where people are literally stabbing each other on the street. 

London needs much better planning, not just short term but long term. Everything seems to be built badly and then changes need to be made almost immediately.

Green spaces need to be created everywhere, parks especially, big parks with space for everyone.

Old buildings should be preserved and not just removed or knocked down to be replaced by new tacky and poorly designed buildings.

Remove the ugly tall office buildings appearing everywhere, London has countless office buildings already that in many cases are sitting empty. London cannot afford to just keep building for the sake of it.

Not enough care is taken in the planning of regenerated areas. We need many more low cost homes all over the city.
 Here the rebuilding of the Watneys Brewery is a typical example of what happens during the planning period. The original plan allowed for a decent number of low cost homes - not enough even then. In subsequent plans, there seem to be less of these low cost homes. Yes there are plans for some posh houses, but not enough for one and two bedroom flats either, nor any subsidised housing. 
Also a fine local sports field willed to the area in perpetuity has been engulfed in the plan. Over Half is a secondary school and the remainder is a single all weather sports pitch. The pure and environmentally green space should be retained as was originally envisaged, not covered in non porous concrete. 
 

So glad to see how many people care and glad to see so many valid comments. Not sure a blame game is useful, though.  | am no expert and just spoke from the heart as someone who loves the city.  I hope all the positive ideas will be seriously considered and a coherent plan arrived at.  Totally agree that housing is a right, and furthermore decent housing is a right.  However, this does not just mean adding extra housing, but thinking carefully about the use of existing buildings to meet housing need and to avoid empty properties.  Affordability is equally important.  At the same time, we should have regard to community and environmental needs.  We should be building/creating places to live, not just housing, and should ensure that all neccessary services, such as schools, transport, doctors, pharmacies, food shops etc,, as well  as green spaces, are included.  In a word, we need proper planning.  As someone who is disabled, I hope that will include the needs of all minorities.  Please keep adding to the conversation!

Some of the questions presented were an either or and some of the responses require a sensibly placed mixture.  With greening it should be a mixture of wilding, spaces to exercise and planting throughout the concrete London area.  expanding affordable homes, needs to be reworking and regenerating what we have and should be combined with energy efficient homes, these cannot be an either or.

Sadly I live in an area that is becoming more and more seedy and run down; namely Croydon. We seem to be creating empty spaces where small businesses have found it impossible to survive and have closed down. It is true that we need the large multiples to provide the initial reason for the public to visit but we still really need the diversity of individual traders to attract the public. Empty premises do not keep people in an area. I have suggested in the past that a policy of setting up market stalls where public spaces are available at a daily discounted rental and encouraging anybody who wants to sell their home-made, second hand, surplus goods, the opportunity to trade, perhaps make a small profit but especially attract the public to a currently failing area.

I would like to see more jobs in places which are accessible to many. This could be in specific places close to train/bus stations. More jobs which drive people to be passionate and do what they need to do, upskill themselves where necessary. A successfull local highstreet will probably include one with opportunities for local people to be involved and for others to have work experience/job opportunities. Being there for the neighbourhood. Developments which provide various opportunities are a great way to create a good space and neighbourhood.

I don’t consider the growth model sustainable.. we need well paying jobs with less of the stark differences in pay scales. We also need to clamp down on the non taxed economy which there seems to be very little done to put out of business. This would obviously increase tax revenue and decrease the draw for illegal migration.

We need to be producing things in this country, the destruction of our manufacturing capability needs to be reversed.

Business rates and council tax bandings need to be dealt with. They need an overhaul. Forever looking the other way whilst politically expedient is unforgivable.

We don’t need “ new developments “ particularly we need to sort out and make viable what we already have. Things that are shiny and new are very much the mantra that has lead to ugly white elephants that have destroyed and blighted communities and towns throughout the country. London has enough office space, shops and citizens. You don’t need to destroy to build. First you need to sort out what you already have. Why build new rather than fix what already is in place. When you have fixed what you already have, only then are you in a position to judge what is genuine additional need.

My favourite salon in Enfield Town closed because they couldn’t afford the extortionate rent. That space is still vacant and it’s been 18 months.

What we do have is “casinos”, which is a terrible use or prime real estate. You’re talking about creating jobs but allowing places that literally deplete people’s finances. 

Maybe we wouldn’t have to resort to casinos and charity shops and 55 bubble tea shops that won’t last through the quarter if rents were affordable in the first place. Surely those retail spaces could be made appealing for higher end retailers, experiential places (like escape rooms, craft classes, etc), well-being (therapists of all varieties), and businesses that would recruit local talent. 

Business pros live in Enfield and commute to central London, but I bet there are local accountants, HR people, marketers, etc. who would love to work near home. I wish there were more opportunities in bigger businesses locally. 

It would be good to see more entry level jobs in London for graduates with less of an emphasis on finance/legal professions.

It would be good to have jobs more evenly distributed throughout the city with a more comprehensive overground system to support it.

I live in Chiswick and local jobs have been created by adding spaces like Chiswick Business Park or in nearby Brentford. This is good for people looking for work in offices. However, jobs need to be created in vital services like doctors surgeries and in the care sector to cover local needs.  More community facilities should be offered for elderly and needy people. I would really love to see more adult education facilities in the neighbourhood. These are vital for inspiring and engaging people and combating loneliness, especially in older people. 
 

Over the past few years my local high street has changed tremendously with many shops closing down and the shops replacing them adding less value to local life. There now seems to be a glut of cafes and overpriced bakeries whilst some types of shops, for example clothes stores and boutiques, have almost disappeared entirely. I used to be able to cover all my needs on my local high street, which mattered because the high street is only 10 minutes walk away and I do not drive. 
 

i don’t enjoy shopping in big malls like Westfield, which is now my only option if I wish to buy clothes in a shop rather than online. 
 

A successful high street for me is one that offers a wide range of shops and facilities to cover every need. Cafes, restaurants and bakeries definitely add value to enjoying the high street but only if it is not at the expense of other, more practical shops, such as homeware stores, stationers, clothes stores, food stores, chemists, etc. I would also like to see more places that repair things to encourage a more sustainable economy. 

There are very few high quality jobs in my borough (north Hackney) - it’s very residential and the only local jobs are in retail or hospitality. Where is the ambition to build new offices, laboratories or factories? The train line to one of the world’s leading biotech and science hubs (Cambridge) passes through here but I see zero aspiration from the council to create the environment for high quality life sciences jobs in the borough and are happy to just let the train pass through - metaphorically and literally - without stopping.