Mayor's objectives

Objective 1: To accommodate London’s growth within its boundaries without encroaching on open spaces (see Chapter 2).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Make the most sustainable and efficient use of space in London and encourage intensification and growth in areas of need and opportunity.
• Achieve an urban renaissance through higher density and intensification in line with public transport capacity, leading to a high quality, compact city, building upon London’s existing urban quality and sense of place (see also Chapter 4, Part B).
• Enable the centre of London and the main Opportunity Areas for development to intensify and to accommodate much of the growth in jobs (see also Chapter 3, Part B).
• Make east London the priority area for new development, regeneration and investment, introducing a new scale and quality of development (see also Chapter 5, Part C).
• Promote London’s polycentric development and a stronger and wider role for town centres, to meet the full range of local needs (including shopping, leisure, housing, local services and jobs) and to strengthen their sense of identity (see also Chapter 3, Part D).
• Foster sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships with neighbouring regions (see also Chapter 1).
• Prioritise Areas for Regeneration, in which spatial, economic and social services should be better co-ordinated and the objectives of the neighbourhood renewal programme promoted (see also Chapter 3, Part A).
• Improve suburban areas through better access, more co-ordinated services and measures to enhance sustainability (see also Chapter 3, Part D).
• Protect and improve the green belt, Metropolitan Open Land, other designated open spaces and the Blue Ribbon Network (see also Chapter 3, Part D and Chapter 4, Part C).

Objective 2: To make London a better city for people to live in (see Chapter 3, Part A).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Improve the quality of Londoners’ lives and the environment through better designed buildings and public spaces (see also Chapter 4, Part B).
• Achieve targets for new housing, including affordable housing, that will cater for the needs of London’s existing and future population and give more people who need it access to homes they can afford.
• Address the differing needs of London’s diverse population.
• Promote public safety, including design measures that improve safety in buildings and the public realm (see also Chapter 4, Part B).
• Create a cleaner, healthier and more attractive environment in all parts of London from the suburbs to the centre (see also Chapter 4, Part A).
• Improve, by working with partners, including the community and voluntary sectors, the availability of quality local services particularly education and health.
• Provide the spatial framework for the Mayor’s Culture Strategy and enhance the cultural assets of London, encourage development of new facilities in new areas, building upon racial and cultural differences that reinforce London’s diversity (see also Chapter 3, Part D).

Objective 3: To make London a more prosperous city with strong and diverse economic growth (see Chapter 3, Part B).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Provide the spatial framework for London’s economic growth and regeneration to realise the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy.
• Create and maintain an adequate infrastructural base for London’s financial and business services sector, as its chief engine of economic growth and jobs creation.
• Enhance London’s world, European and national role through attracting industries and tourism, improving strategic transport links, collaborating with other world cities, European and regional neighbours (see also Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, Parts C and D).
• Create incentives and opportunities to stimulate the supply of suitable floorspace in the right locations to accommodate economic growth.
• Strengthen the diversity of London’s economy, provide for small and ethnic minority businesses and encourage local enterprise, including social enterprise, throughout London.
• Release employment land that is no longer needed in its current use for new uses.
• Support emerging dynamic sectors of growth and innovation, such as green and creative industries, and encourage information technology and research, and the development of business intelligence in London (see also Chapter 4, Part A).
• Provide the relevant training, transport accessibility and support to allow Londoners to compete successfully for jobs in London (see also Chapter 3, Part C).
• Sustain and promote the rapid expansion of leisure and cultural industries that are both key to London’s economy and are the most rapidly expanding sectors of its population’s expenditure.

Objective 4: To promote social inclusion and tackle deprivation and discrimination (see Chapter 3, Parts A and B).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Tackle unemployment by increasing access to high quality jobs through training, advice and other support, particularly for those women and young people and minority ethnic groups most in need.
• Tackle concentrations of deprivation with the aim of ensuring that no one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live within 10-20 years (see also Chapter 2).
• Tackle homelessness.
• Tackle discrimination, building on the economic and cultural strengths of London’s diversity and building a London that is more accessible to disabled people (see also Chapter 4, Part B).
• Provide a framework for the spatial policies and decisions of learning, health, safety and other key social and community services.
• Ensure that local communities benefit from economic growth and are engaged in the development process.

Objective 5: To improve London’s accessibility (see Chapter 3, Part C).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Provide the spatial framework for the development of London’s transport system to ensure that development supports the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.
• Improve and expand London’s public transport through increased and phased investment in services and infrastructure.
• Minimise the need to travel and the growth of journey lengths.
• Improve international, national and regional transport access to London, including airports and ports.
• Integrate development with public transport to ensure that there is a proper fit between development and the capacity of the public transport network to service it over the period on the plan, taking appropriate opportunities to intensify the use of land where current or future transport capacity allows and to connect Londoners to employment opportunities (see also Chapter 2).
• Tackle congestion through levels of restraint of car use appropriate to different parts of London and the provision of alternatives, including the improvement of access on foot and cycling and better and safer facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Improve the sustainable movement of freight within and around London, making more use of water and rail.

Objective 6: To make London a more attractive, well-designed and green city (see Chapter 4).

The key policy directions for achieving this objective are:

• Provide the spatial framework to achieve better use of resources and improvements to the environment in support of the Mayor’s environmental strategies.
• Promote a range of actions to achieve the wider environmental sustainability of a growing London, including radical improvements in the use of energy, the treatment of waste, the reduction of noise pollution, the improvement of air quality and the promotion of biodiversity.
• Address issues of climate change and ensure that the environmental impact of a growing London does not contribute to global warming.
• Deal with flood risk and water resource issues at an early stage, especially in the Thames Gateway region.
• Encourage and support the development of green industries (see also Chapter 3, Part B).
• Make the fullest and most sustainable use of resources including land, water, energy and construction materials.
• Protect and enhance the quality of the townscape, through historic conservation and enhancing the public realm, open spaces and waterways, and create new resources, recognising their increased importance in a compact city (see also Chapter 2, Part A and Chapter 3, Part D).

View Mayors objectives policies

• I.1 The Mayor's Objectives