Planning our future London

There’s quite a lot of greenery near where I live, however I do feel like some of the more urban areas could do well to have a little more green space like parks etc where there’s play areas, football pitches, food vans, benches etc. 

To maximise usage of these areas they should be accessible to all by any means including some car parking and bus stops nearby. They should be lit up at night in order to reduce crime and maybe some volunteer park rangers or park police would be good too. 

We need more space for wildlife. London's children have far fewer opportunities than children of previous generations to interact with butterflies and other insects, hear birdsong, or to see, touch and smell wildflowers. This is their right and is natural for children. Wildlife is free for all to see and hear and encourages positive behaviours for health such as walking and exploring, getting outside away from noise, traffic and screens - but we need to encourage wildlife in the first place. I and my family regularly use green spaces for watching wildlife, walking, relaxing and to improve our mental health.

We are in a biodiversity crisis and there is no reason why cities such as London can't be managed with thriving wildlife in mind. Simple things like letting some areas of grass grow long in parks or verges, mowing some parts and removing the cuttings in early autumn, would create a much more interesting, biodiverse landscape with butterflies and chirping grasshoppers. It has worked well and is appreciated by people in places such as the Royal Parks, so we know it can be done easily. Log piles and tree stumps from arboricultural works can be left in quiet corners to encourage wonderful creatures like nationally scarce Stag Beetles, of which London still has a good population.

Education campaigns help, to tell people what's around and why the green spaces matter.

Dog owners can be encouraged to clean up dog mess and keep their pets under control so as not create no-go areas for families.

Street trees are important for shade, climate, beauty and biodiversity. Existing trees should be kept - pavements can be widened and roads narrowed rather than trees felled once they get bigger.

Many grasslands are wildlife-rich - they should not be planted with trees unless they are known to be wildlife-poor, but natural regeneration could be more encouraged - this will form scrub which benefits many species such as birds and butterflies.

Councils need ecology teams!

Why do so many residents especially in social housing area never tend their gardens?

Why cant everyone help in maintaining local areas, visit elderly, there is so much that can be done, I see young men camping on busy roads, outside stations begging instead of e.g working like immigrants in hospitality and farms, so many jobs out there...

For vulnerable people, parks and public places are too dangerous. Greenery must be in defensible spaces, mainly maximising balconies for flats, and creating private secure mini gardens where possible. Dogs however well meaning are dangerous to people with unsteady balance and easily broken bones. And to children. Women on their own or even in pairs are not safe in many situations. Disabled people rarely are safe in any public place. They pay the council tax for everyone else to enjoy nature, while excluded themselves.

Plant trees and plants to encourage pollination. This will produce more local honey . 
OUR environment is changing and as a result we are suffering from seasonal allergies ! allergies which we should be able to withstand. But because of pollution created by modernisation we are suffering. 
I suggest planting trees and plants for oxygen in every street and high streets planting  plants in our front gardens ( if we have have one) soil will absorb heavy rain and we will have less flooding. 
 

Parks in the part of Havering where I lived are used but for limited periods predominantly due to a lack of toilets for children. Parents are unable to take their children for a day at the park as the absence of toilet and cafe facilities means that children need to be taken home to eat or use the toilet the only other alternative is for them to urinate up trees.

There are also large numbers of buildings which could be used for green roofs and walls which would help with air quality particularly if drought tolerant plants were used.  
 

There is a desperate need for areas surrounding the railway lines and the Thames to be cleaned up.  Significant plastic pollution in the Thames coming from the river and also the waste facilities leaves part of the Thames walk very polluted.

I agree the statements above that "Londoners have told us so far." (I don't need bigger events spaces, we are well served for those.) In question 6 it was hard to choose just one option, all were important. Regarding parks, I am on the committee of the community group of our local park, with a special interest in wildlife-friendly gardening. Certainly there is room for more trees and wildlife areas in our parks and on our streets. Grass verges planted with hardy flowering shrubs. These would last longer /be more drought tolerant than Hillingdon's lovely wildflower verges.

The point I would like to raise is about giving facilities for young people to do activities in our parks. Keeping teenagers active in the holidays and summer evenings, sports clubs, more play facilities for younger kids, clubs to study wildlife (surprise, I'm a science teacher who worked in the Science Museum and Natural History Museum for many years). Since funding for youth clubs has been eroded, there is a big need for this and also for providing chances for different communities to get together. Someone like myself could run weather-monitoring climate/ change clubs. Wildlife monitoring clubs, etc. Also, perimeter walking/ running paths marked at say 100m intervals so kids/ adults can measure how far they walked and set higher goals.

In the Harrow, there was a consultation about tennis courts across the borough. Our wishes were ignored. Our courts were in average condition but free of charge. Now a company has been brought in to charge £9 per session and they say the money will go to maintaining the courts. I think that's a scam. We cannot speak directly to the company, so it will be hard to make them accountable if repairs are not done. 

Many parks in Harrow have pavilion buildings which can be used to run clubs/ activities for kids. Bowling greens (and their buildings) are hardly used. How about OAP-friendly activities there?

The green spaces are very important in our place where we live . I live in Acton. I can find many parks around here.I use the green spaces with my children mostly. We spend a lot of time outside playing ball and using the playgrounds. I think support for community activities making use of green space. People can use the outdoor gym witch can prevent many health problems.

I spend lots of time in the outdoor areas near me ( Enfield and Haringey). I cycle with my kids almost every day and move from park to park.

What I do despise is the road closures, as all traffic is pushed to main roads and their junctions. My road is one of them so instead of having cars move I  have idle cars on the road from 8-9:30am and from 3:00-7:30pm. I feel punished by councils forcing ides on people.  I just do not understand this London wide decision.

We play sports and we miss when the council removes the goals from grass areas. I wish to see more wild play areas where kids can practice climbing skills or athletics. As an adult I welcome walking routes that are not isolated as many are due to blocked roads and I do not feel safe to use them outside summer term so we are limited in the winter months on what is possible to do.

There are several wetlands that were created which we enjoy and there are still more years until the young trees give good shade.

Children play areas are over crowded as population grew but not the play area. There are almost no play area for older children 10+ . Many sports courts are blocked off / or in poor condition or require payment. This would need to change. Even to have a wall to play tennis or squash on your own would be great. We often wander to the local forest as we need shade due to skin sun allergy.

Many areas have beautiful parts filled with wildflowers and the parks look stunning as well as many street junctions in Enfield. There are pocket sizes flower oasis everywhere that is pretty to see but they lack benches to sit one.

I would welcome more green routes between boroughs so you can explore the city with the family and be safe doing it., either cycling or walking. The river Lee is great example of this but the paths have become too narrow for the amount of people using them .

I would like to see more greenery on our local streets to offset the amount of pollution from the high number of cars.

There are not a lot of green spaces where I live so instead of building yet another high rise block of flats (in an already overcrowded area of Thornton Heath, Croydon) maybe they should build a park for the local community.  

Also the council should stop cutting down the trees lining the roads as this not only brutalises the landscape but reduces oxygen to counteract the air pollution from eg cars, smokers.

1. I would like to see more parks and green spaces with rest and recreation facilities which are all managed and supervised at all the time they are open to deter antisocial behaviour.
2. The spaces should have manned toilet places which are clean and modern and are again manned all the time to give reassurance to the users.

London's parks are amazing, but they can be far away for a lot of people. It's our streets that aren't very green. In my local area (Woodford), the high streets and areas immediately around the tube stations aren't green at all, and are still very hostile to pedestrians (lots of car parks and concrete). Transforming these places into green spaces would make the areas more welcoming, encourage more people to walk/cycle instead of driving - which is a big issue in our area - as well as improving the air quality. I'd personally love to see more pedestrianisation of the roads directly around tube station entrances.

Parks are not safe for women due to high crime levels and poor design. Rewildknf areas of my local park has resulted in areas where you are hidden from others or the street as you walk on paths which would easily conceal predators and  muggers. Clearly designed by a man not a woman.  I do not feel safe in london after the Sarah everard case and other instances of misogyny by the met and lack of visible effective trusted policing . 
 

also green space is under pressure. Surburbsn areas are losing character due to new builds with small gardens and in my area building ugly prominent extensions and outbuildings over the ince lovely gardens   I don’t want to be part of urban london. We have nothing in common with central london and I don’t want to be a part of it at all. I live in essex not london and do not want to be swallowed up in this concrete jungle 

In order to preserve green spaces and keep London in the ranking of the greenest city, we also need to think about improving the recycling system, and anti-pest system, also pay attention to companies that are deceiving us with chemicals harmful to nature with "ECO FRIENDLY" packaging.

The garbage we discard is essential that it is sent to recyclers properly. Unfortunately, many retailers and producers are not collaborating with this, packing plastic products with packaging with the following warning: "NOT YET RECYCLED" or "DON'T RECYCLE AT HOME" or "RECYCLE WITH BAGS AT LARGE SUPERMARKET".

How can people who live far from large supermarkets, who do not have their own car, recycle their garbage? Since these products are essential products and there would be no way not to buy them? (apples/bananas/cereals etc.)

Residents, producers, and retailers, WE must all do our part and have our environmental responsibility, everything we consume comes packaged in some form of packaging, be it plastic or other material that, if improperly disposed of in nature, nature will take years to recover the damage from that material

We have to charge these producers and retailers with environmental responsibility, just so we can keep our London green and healthy.

How will the trees, fruits and vegetables grow if we continue to poison the animals and the soil? These poisons are in laundry liquid wash, and detergent.

Many companies are deceiving us by putting "ECO FRIENDLY" in their packaging, but if we look at the composition of these products, this still harms the soil, the water, and our entire system.

We should also rethink how to scare rodents and ants out of our homes. We cannot continue to poison any form of life. If we poison a mouse, a carnivorous bird will eat it and be poisoned too, a fox that feeds on a poisoned mouse will also die from poisoning too and this poison will go into the ground!

The same soil we use to grow our vegetables. What are we going to do about it?

I would like to see more green spaces that you can spend time in rather than just pass through. This includes benches, bird feeders and maybe some planting rather than just flat grass - pocket parks can still be high quality! Where it is feasible (and I accept it often isn't), it would be good to have more toilet facilities. It's difficult to spend a decent amount of time in a park without toilet facilities, particularly for young children, the elderly and those with health conditions. During heatwaves, even small areas of greenery with benches become cool oases and it would be good to make these as accessible as possible. 

London is now one of the most congested city in the world, and has a slower average speed than Delhi, India… why has London failed so badly?

Pollution in London, as the cleanest city in the western world, has remained the same for the last twenty year, and averaged 2 (low) on the pollution scale during that time. Yet London is being destroyed by the current regime who declares pollution as a motivation for their crazy schemes…

By removing and reducing the amount of carriageways, vehicles are being squeezed onto  congested roads. And with speeds reduced to a crazy 20mph limit, and with vehicle damaging speed humps, journey times have been extended by 33% in London.

we now need to ask the question… is the current regime sponsored by an overseas State? What is their motivation to cause congestion, frustration and confusion for drivers in London? Why do they want to turn London, a working city, into a green space pedestrian filled park?