Shaping London’s economic future

Our local council (Southwark) has introduced Controlled Parking Zones which destroys community. Want to drive an older relative to church?  You can't, it's in a different CPZ.  

Need to drive a sick relative to the GP?  You can't, it's in a different CPZ.

Want to visit a friend with your young kids?  You can't, it's in a different CPZ.

I use public transport a lot, but sometimes it just isn't feasible, and on those occasions I now can't drive.

I think one of the biggest challenges is the cost of living (and in particular housing) in London.  There doesn't seem to be enough affordable housing to meet the needs of key workers....

Can’t comment about job situation nowadays as I am now retired however, High Streets now are full of  restaurants and foreign cafes with groups of non English men making one feel very uncomfortable. Have even had cars pull up with gangs jumping out with machetes.Little choice or availability of retail outlets, lots of barbers though. Lack of public transport from where I live, difficulty parking so unless there is a supermarket with parking rarely visit a High Street nowadays. Even then, no social interaction, all becoming automated so if I go  all I do is press buttons. Even at our local library nowadays cos of cutbacks most of the time is automated  with nothing else offered apart from borrowing books, it used to have interesting things going on.  I see loneliness and stagnation amongst so many  now. This is apart from the increase in building, high-rise, overcrowding , crime, anti social behaviour and  lack of anything for the teenagers to do.

The survey fundamentally misunderstands some of the challenges facing workers in London.

Biggest challenge by far is cost of living. Housing costs are astronomical. People can be earning what for most people would be considered an exceptional amount of money but find themselves having to cram into a flatshare, or other substandard housing that they as individuals feel is not commensurate with their income and life stage.

Then when they would like to settle down and start a family, the cost of family housing + nursery care (which is still extremely expensive, at £1.5-2K a month per child, even after recent funding changes) mean people find themselves leaving the city.

My firm hires globally for roles in London. It is increasingly hard to attract quality candidates to come to London vs other global cities, with cost of living an oft-cited concern. 

I wish there were more safe, segregated cycling infrastructure in the borough - it boosts business for local shops (contrary to popular belief) makes it nicer for people to be in the area, reduces air and noise pollution, returns to the street to the people rather than just a few motorists, and encourages people to be more active.

Questionnaire was about opportunities. 

How about maintaining a lIving wage in a stable  job . Wages driven down for 20 year with inflation.   Today its  more about keeping a roof over your head and food on the table. Opportunities are risks you dont need. Status quo is safe.

Concentrating on what needs improving. I am sure some people inside london and areas prioritised by policy will have much better experiences to report on.

Consider starting with providing the basic infrastructure like ensuring potholes are filled, repair the pavements, clear the weeds, cut the trees. remove the overload of signage and cameras from roads.  Its seems more attention is paid to raising revenue through ULEZ and other stealth taxes than actually delivering the basic services. Stop installing trendy and dangerous road layouts, how many pedestrians and cyclists have collided on people exiting busses into cycle lanes? London is slowing down to victorian times, what makes that attractive to businesses? Public transport is unreliable, expensive and patchy on the outskirts of London, yet we still pay the London taxes. It does not feel like we get a good deal. Slowing down the trains and reducing them so they can meet their timetables is really the wrong way to go.

E-bikes are great, but the vast number of them left lying on pavements and roads for days is not really acceptable or safe. Consider putting that right, collect them more regularly or supply fixed locations for them.

If we want a better economy within London consider speeding up travel, make it cheaper, make it reliable, keep it safe.

My local high street has been decimated by suppressing parking (more CPZs), pricier parking, harder to get. Public transport is slow and unreliable (3 buses in a row then nothing). Many shops closed by high business rates and we now have a high street filled with charity shops. Does not feel like an  economy designed for growth and success.

Talking of initiatives outer london stations were equipped with card readers to extend the payment systems to outer zones. That was supposed to be live in 2023, its now end July 2024 and its still not live. We are spending the money but nothing works, why? Distracted with ULEZ?

My local borough shows low consideration for pedestrians/ bus users by failing to provide adequate road crossing facilities where they are badly needed.  I've almost given up travelling on one of my two principle local bus routes because of the uncertainty of serious traffic congestion en route to the Underground.  I hate traffic lights which stay red to pedestrians for ages, while no traffic is moving, and one cannot see what the traffic lights display to waiting traffic.  Many cyclists and scootists are a total menace to pedestrians.

My relatives lived in East Ham and as a child I loved staying with them and going to the Museums and shops in Central London, they moved out in the mid 80's due to the increase in crime. 

I moved from Hampshire to London 23 years ago at first I loved being able to get into London to see shows and I loved the multicultural aspect of the city. 

Now I'm not sure if I want to grow old here, my High Street is full of £1 and chicken shops, the banks are closing left right and centre. My GP surgery is overwhelmed due to new builds.  the Council are building High Rises on every available space.
I'm disabled and rent an adapted house but the rent  now takes a large amount of my income and if it continues to rise I will have to consider moving away. My eldest child is in their 30's and still lives at home because they can't afford to rent local and have no chance of buying their own place

The Mayor of London, doesn't give a fig for Londoners. All he wants to do is continually tax Londoners more by instigating more and more revenue generating from the motorist. Interfering with local councils to introduce more & more buildings, to turn Bexley into a Ghetto. The Green Belt was instigated to prevent the growth of London into the Suburbs.

This Mayor Is totally out of touch with Londoners

My local High Street is excellent as a retail, personal services and hospitality area, but parallels a major trunk road and consequently becomes a traffic sewer filled with rat runners whenever the main road is (or threatens to become) congested. Suddenly the High Street’s attractiveness evaporates. It would benefit enormously from being restricted to buses, pedestrians and cyclists at various points, making through traffic a thing of the past. When I see car free areas in towns like Chichester or city streets like Lambs Conduit I wonder why such obvious successes can’t be widely imitated elsewhere. Similar cases, local to me, are Richmond and Kensington High Street, both centres I try to avoid visiting if there’s not a dire necessity. 

An additional comment. The plethora of badly driven food delivery motor scooters and e-bikes are an anti-attraction and may dissuade some from visiting and spending money locally. 

I think we have a wonderful city with fantastic potential. 

London on a whole needs attention and funding especially away from zone 1 / tourist hot spots. My local high street has so many closed and empty shops, with very specific shops opening daily (barber shops for some reason) there’s no mix of retail anymore and even bigger companies like Tesco and boots have recently withdrawn retail space from my local high street. 

 Central London appears to be deteriorating which I notice on my commute and when venturing in to socialise and shop. I am concerned about the number of shops closing, the vast amount of vape and souvenir shops, as well as the the rickshaws all over the place regularly endangering pedestrians. 

I worry about the safety of our city in both central  and Greater London. Phone theft is entirely out of hand now. 

I realise all of these problems above cannot be resolved quickly nor easily but I  hope the new chapter for the country means London as well as the rest of the UK gets the attention and funding required to make it the city we all know and love again! 

Not considered in the survey is noise and pollution from the trains and nearby industrial work. It greatly impacts my quality of experience and 

I am an old age pensioner.

I am 81 years old so some of the questions in the survey were difficult for me to answer because they were aimed at people who are young enough to be employed or run a business.  However, it was an interesting survey.

Trying to take a disabled person shopping or to appointments is a joke no where to park plant pots in the road and no entry’s everywhere a 15 minute journey now takes 40 minutes roadworks should all be done at night but seeing as everyone thinks the car is the devil drivers have no chance even now your goner charge electric car drivers congestion 

I am in a wheelchair. No public disabled toilets are suitable for me. The standard 'document M' design does not work for wheelchair users who cannot walk. Caroline Russell did London wide survey on the accessibility or not of public disabled toilets that has gone nowhere. The much vaunted changing places are not suitable for wheelchair users as there are no grab rails - they are designed for people with two carers, one on either side.

A division of Arup was commissioned By the Department for levelling up  to come up with an improved design. It never saw the light of day.

The existing design does not work for people unable to go from sitting to standing. The grab rails are in the wrong place. One is on the wall to your left but too far back. The other grab rail on your left is too far forward to reach.

As a result of not being able to use public disabled toilets, I and others cannot leave home for more than a few hours. My worldis like living in a shoebox.

Secondly, the design of buses does not work for most disabled people in wheelchairs or mobility buggies. The notic0es on the bus tell you to face backwards. This means you cannot reach the blue button to alert the driver to stop. These buses were never tested by anyone actually in a wheelchair!  Please can someone in a wheelchair test the designs of buses before they are put into production.

Thirdly, please can the person in each borough borrow a power wheelchair and go up and down all the pavements in the borough? They would then realise how bumpy they are and how dropped curbs are often too steep to be used.

All it takes it is to experience what the consumers have to put up with. There are entire boroughs that are inaccessible, e.g. Haringey and much of Westminster.

Are you guys there okay? How dare you to ask such questions?! What is the minimum wage? So how on earth someone with minimum wage will be ever able to secure themselves a permanent home in London? Maybe it's time to stop selling London to china and middle east? How about to limit 1 property per person at least in London? Your survey is a spit in a face of those who are barely making ends meet!