Your views on planning London's future

From 1 to 20 March, we ran a survey and five discussions to better understand how London’s places, spaces and buildings affect your life.

We’ve now read and analysed everything you told us and shared it with the policy team.

Here’s what they said:

“Thank you to everyone who took part in the discussions on how we plan London’s future. Your views will be important to help guide us as we explore longer-term challenges such as the housing shortage, climate change and inequalities, and discuss ways these could be tackled.”

Read more below about what you told us and what’s next.

Over 800 of you took part in our survey and we also received 235 comments.

Across the different discussions, the topics you talked most about were:

• affordable housing
• green spaces
• transport.

Here’s a summary of our five discussion threads:

Your experience of London’s places

Green spaces were the most mentioned topic, with most commenters in favour of more green spaces in the city.

A few comments mentioned that you find parts of London overcrowded, with a lack of open space to walk around in and breathe fresh air. Streets are very busy, exacerbated by restaurants with outdoor seating and by on-street parking.

The second most mentioned topic was housing and buildings.

Some comments mentioned the beauty of London’s old buildings. Others argued that more recent developments are ugly and too densely built, ruining the ‘feel’ of an area.

You said it’s important that new buildings are sympathetic to their surroundings. Tower blocks are unpopular among some of you, both for aesthetic reasons and because they can cause wind tunnels.

Impact of working from home on places in London

Many commenters believe that Londoners will continue to work from home for at least a few days each week.

Because of this, many think that both housing and transport needs will change. People will need more space to work from home, as well as ready access to green spaces in their local area to relax and exercise.

Commenters also recognise that if people are spending less money on commuting, this will affect Transport for London’s finances. It’s likely that more journeys will be local, rather than going in and out of central London.

Many of you feel that increased working from home will have (and has already had) a definite positive impact on your local area. You feel that your local high street will benefit from increased business. Residents will interact with their neighbours more or be more involved in local activities. They will take more care of their local area, too.

London – a city for families?

The most mentioned factor in making London a family-friendly city was the availability of suitable and affordable housing, including social housing.

You made it clear that new housing must be accompanied by additional infrastructure and services, tailored towards the needs of families. This would prevent pressure on already stretched services.

For many of you, there is an overlap between London being family-friendly and being environmentally friendly.

You said that air quality must be improved, to ensure the city is a healthy place to raise young children. Similarly, it’s extremely important to you that the capital’s green spaces are protected, and that housing developments intended for families have green spaces where children can play outside.

Some of you are worried about the safety of children and young people growing up in London.

How does London need to change?

The most mentioned topics were transport and housing.

You are split over the best strategy for transport in London.

Some commenters are concerned that road charging and initiatives such as low traffic neighbourhoods are making it increasingly difficult to be a driver in the city. This is hard for those for who feel that public transport is not an option – because of disability, location or journey time.

Others feel that making the city car-free, or as close to this as possible, should be the aim. While it is recognised that some Londoners need their cars, there is a feeling that there are ‘too many cars’ in London, and a high number of unnecessary journeys, which contributes to congestion and air pollution. A smaller number of you mentioned that the volume of cars on the roads means that it is harder, and less safe, to cycle and walk around London.

On housing, most of you argued that new homes should be built. Others said that the issue is not to do with the volume of housing, but with the volume of people and/or regulation within the housing market. Some of you highlighted issues such as better rights for renters and greater regulation of buy-to-let properties and of foreign investment.

Responding to the climate emergency

The most mentioned topic was the need to adapt (or ‘retrofit’) existing buildings to make them consume less energy. To do this, you would like to see a home insulation programme and grants offered by the government.

Many of you also argued there is a need for better local recycling facilities and that there should be more opportunities to minimise waste and consumption within your own communities. Some of the examples you mentioned are ‘libraries of things’, swap shops and zero-waste shops.

A few of you also commented on the need to plan for extreme weather events. You feel that not enough is being done to prevent London from flooding. You said urban planning needs to take the risk of this into account by regulating what can be built where, and regulating the extent to which London can be paved over.

The policy team will now start using what you have told us to help design the next stages of the Planning for London Programme. This includes which questions we need to explore in more detail.

Soon we’ll announce more information on this process and when there will be more opportunities to take part.

At the end of the programme, we’ll publish a set of findings based on the evidence, views and ideas that people taking part have generated. These findings will inform further work after this programme has finished, including a future London Plan – a document that has a big say on how London will develop in the future.