Shaping London’s economic future

With the way the standard of living crisis is affecting everyday lives in London,I might consider relocating abroad in the future.I like most the fact that there is  variety , but on the downside ,the High closes too early!

A good job is one where I will earn enough to take care of myself and my family,at present almost half of my salary goes on rent! A good workplace is one where you are treated fairly,equally and like a human, with opportunities for development and progression.

Successful economic growth to me will indicate a better spending ability and not having to rely on loan sharks .Ability to afford food ,shelter and heating,maybe the odd holiday once a year.

Without better wages the outlook is bleak. Wealth inequality has spiralled out of control since the pandemic-unless wealth starts to flow into the pockets of ordinary people as much as it flows into those of the very wealthy the situation will continue to get worse, people already are struggling to keep the lights on and food on the table, the huge cost of rents and mortgages mean people are barely managing to get by-existing rather than living. If matters get much worse then people will have nothing to lose and the rule of law, which is already eroded and in many areas not policed will break down much further and living conditions for everyone will become much more dangerous. The housing crisis is not being addressed and people continue to flow into London and there is nowhere that they can afford to live.

 Plenty of building is going on but all in the commercial sector entirely for profit-so the people who need homes are not being helped by any of the building.

The reckless headlong political race to try any make the housing crisis look addressed is destroying green space and impacting the lives of Londoners who already live in cramped conditions with little natural light-excessive building is exacerbating this, eventually no one will actually want to live in london. At the same time the need for extra infrastructure to support thousands of new residents is completely ignored- a pathetic trickle of money comes through for community projects-and much as first aid for kids and armchair yoga for seniors is nice to have it does NOT address the need for extra GP surgeries, extra schools ,supermarkets, hospitals and public transport-all of which are essential if the population rises in an area significantly.

I live in Stratford ,which is so impacted by these issues from the building of a high rise block of flats every month or so , and has been going on since 2012.

It is completely unsustainable and cannot continue if we are to remain civilized.

London has a 'i can do what I want whenever I want' attitude amongst many of it various communities. There is little local social adhesion where many communities just do not want to mix. The definition of ' multi cultural society ' is meant to mean a true mix of all communities in all areas. But we all know that in many areas, is just not happening. Street after street are taken over, quite deliberately by some sections of society. That does not create social adhesion or understanding. But no ' authority' local or national seems bothered or even concerned to do anything about it 

On transport we are constantly trying to push a quart into a pint pot,to coin a phrase. Now while I'm all for alternative forms of transport including the Cyclist do not understand why we have to take up masses of car parking spaces for bike bays? Why can't we just have both?There are often lots of other off road alternatives but local authorities seem reluctant to use them. I don't understand this car bashing policy when we are all eventually heading for an electric future (albeit delayed) Car park spaces especially on some of our council estates, are precious commoditys. It's bad enough we give up whole roads in some cases to the cyclist. Please leave road parking spaces alone! Local business cannot survive on just bikes and bus passengers. It the situation continues I cannot see me staying in the capital long term. There are too many local shops unused or there is high turn over of owners/empty shops again,due to high running costs. Subsidies for new start ups should be implemented. With a start on interest rates now falling there is some relief but it will take more cuts and time before we start to see any potential growth either locally or nationwide.

What is very poor is the amount of uncoordinated Road works in the Capital. Our road is being dug up AGAIN. Nobody seems to care that this ‘do what you like and leave a huge hole for weeks’ approach, causes huge traffic jams. This must affect businesses and the economy. 
The contractors simply do as they please and charge the local councils what they like. There’s no overall control.

Being retired and not wealthy, I find London an exciting and invigorating place to live and socialise. This is made possible to me by the Freedom Pass and safe cycling. 

Sad to see my local high street gradually going downhill. Big chains like Boots and WH Smiths have gone, replaced by pound shops and nail bars. The pavements are crowded with motorcycle delivery drivers waiting outside fast food shops. In the evening the only people in the high street are the homeless and alcoholics. 

Small businesses are hit too hard with rates. The council need to revise their business rates otherwise we'll just end up with big chains everywhere and no indi shops. 

The High Street looks like the a scene from the Road with mattresses in doorways and money laundering shops. The market has been decimated, it used to sell good cheap fresh food and now it is ready meals for tourists; local people have lost a valuable source of food. The council want to turn the Memorial Gardens with the Holocaust memorial into another theme park ‘Happy Place’ with coffee shop.

The Parish Church does a good line in bouncy castles on the graves of Kingston’s founders. Its the capital for bike nicking but good for coffee shops and Pret is a good work hub. The Curzon roof top is also pretty cool. The Heritage Centre, Museum and Library are very important Town centre services, I just hope they survive.

Public transport is pathetic if you live in the cheap seats, the 131 is always crowded and people with children a disabilities don’t have very positive experiences, but if you want to go to Richmond theres a bus every 5 minutes and you can get the front seat. And  thank goodness for Richmond because without them surrounding us on 3 sides, we would have no green space as Kingston build on everything and  let the green belt rot even though it had a Site of Metropolitan Importance but is now a Go f**k an Ape.

Kingston council are about to translocate the same population of Slow Worms for the second time. We have lost over 100 trees in my ward and most of those planted have died. They claim. A 93% survival rate but if I can count 15 dead on the walk from my home, that should mean 214 planted (if their assertions were true) in fact we are in deficit from tree removal from the regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate- trees we were told would stay. The council have allowed my neighbours to build a HMO - one of several in the ward. Its a a full width single storey extension over their garden with a first storey flat roof extension and a dormer. It was a 2 bed Victorian cottage & now looks like Fawlty Towers. Thankfully I love London, I love Kew Gardens, Home Park

I am retired but politically active. Leafleting for the GE last month, I spoke to cleaners in housing blocks owned by Peabody and RBKC. Both came from outside London, one from Enfield, because the people who keep London going cannot afford to live here. Unfortunately the questions in the survey do not have enough "Not Applicable" options, which apply to a retired flat-holder who has worked in London and elsewhere. I leafleted many former council estates, now largely owned by 'right to buy' occupants. There must be more council (social rent) houses in London to let the people who keep this city going actually live in it. Also, private landlords should be forced to sell their properties to the local councils - easily done by taxing them appropriately. It has happened before. I live in a borough, which is managed by a Tory council for the wealthy and very wealthy. Its longf-term policy is gentrification of the predominantly Labour north by demolishing council estates and replacing them with a very low percentage of social housing, private "affordable" housing, which is not affordable at 80% of market rent, and property for sale. you, Mr Mayor, and Starmer's government, have a lot of work to do to cut the horrific equality gap in RBK&C and elsewhere in London.

London has an immense problem with the housing needs of the people living there for long term and wanting to settle and make a family. The prices are too high, the offer is too small, the quality is very poor. We are not even offered proper rental contracts unless we pay thousands to rent with a real estate agency. But also the private landlord should do that, we are all humans with the same needs and pay punctually every month! Please do something about that.

London is a safe place to live, with traffic slow moving and crime levels low. Air quality is also improving.

I am close to all the facilities and services I could possibly need. Public transport (buses, tube, overground) is accessible close to where I live.

Facilities for cyclists are constantly improving.

I can easily access all the cultural centres I want, either by walking or by a short bike/bus/tube ride. For exercise and outdoor activity, I have Hampstead Heath and Regents Park within a short walk, or Richmond Park and Kew Gardens within 40 minutes on the Overground.

Though I have lived in London all my life, I find there is always something new to explore.

Oh and need I start on the amount of ridiculou  tower blocks going up in West London at over 50 storeys - mostly for students. Some developers have already gone down.  Mayor needs to put his money where his mouth is. 

Interesting (but hardly surprising) that there were zero questions about crime, theft, identity theft from bins, muggings, shootings, knifings nor the 3 bus policy to get anywhere a mile away. I find London exceedingly tricky for thos aspects alone.

It is one of the most diverse and tollerant cities in the world and should be proud of it. It has cinemas, many musical theatres, theatres, concert halls, museums and does remain the cultural centre of the UK. And so it should not only do the 9m Londoners benefit but also for the tourists that bring in good money. Regretfully too much of the recent change has been politically driven by dogma.

So the Government have starved the London Councils of cash but directed them to provide many more services, the car is hated but the additional capacity for cross London movement that Crossrail 2 would have provided has not been progressed. We all cannot work either at home or in a 2 mile radius and many of us cannot cycle. The connections from the South West Rail have been degraded (fewer trains per hour) which drives down useage. We must restore those links.

We must provide more access to apprenticeship or vocational training and stop the universtites trying to produce academic courses for these subjects rather than practical ones and cease most academic research in these areas. We should be proud of those who want to raise their practical skills in exchange for better wages and better quality jobs. Areas such as Car and Bus Mechanics, Building trades, Production planning, Nursing, etc etc. These are areas that the workers from Eastern Europe were so proud of the skills and learning they had achieved.

We must be careful to be inclusive of the whole population or we risk alienating the young white males and women, they are ethnic groups that derserve as much attention as any other group.    

London's mayor seems determined to destroy its overall ambience and quality of life which has worsened significantly during his terms of office. Public transport, safety and the environment are worse, the grotesque obsession with "climate change"  and the persecution of older peopke, motorists and especially SMEs are all appalling. 

Public transport is too expensive, poor punctuality, often there are dirty buses, overcrowded

Areas that are heavily pedestrianised are often at rhe expensive of buses being able to move

20mph speed restrictions, 24hrs a day are ridiculous

There are too many chicken shops,nail parlours and barbers/haidressers

There needs to be a better consideration for older people who can still work - job opportunities for 50plus are abysmal, even though there is so much experience in this age-group

There is not enough attention paid to clean streets and neighbourhoods - get schoolchildren to do community work, same with able-bodied unemployed youth - too many chugging beer, smoking cigarettes and comparing tattoos! 

City Hall urgently needs to address the housing crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. The reality is that only people who are either independently wealthy/have family money, or benefit from right-to-buy can buy a flat anywhere close to where they live and work. 

Wages have not kept pace with spiralling housing costs (rent or to buy) so even if one saves enough for a 10-15% deposit over the years (while paying private landlords an extoriant amount to pay off their mortgages), the "mortgage affordability criteria" says that one cannot afford repayments on a flat, even though one pays a similar amount in rent every month. 

In my own case, I have looked for London Living Rent flats and none exist any where close to Islington, where I live and work, I have looked at shared ownership, but the minimum income for most flats is now (well) over £70,000 and so I fail the affordability criteria for even a one-bed flat, when I would need a two bed (I work from home). However, if a partner and I tried to buy together, we would be over the £90,000 maximum threshold. Since moving to Islington in 2013, I have had to move 9 times from rented accommodation  - 8 times because the landlord wanted to sell, refurbish, or just to hike rent. Being forced to move with two months' notice (s. 21) takes it toll - (admin burden of looking for a new flat, dealing with reference checks etc, boxing up and moving, end-of-tenancy admin and cleaning) and is financially costly and puts one at the whim of the market availability at any given time. 

While I know that I am better off than a lot of Londoners financially, I still do not have any security in my housing situation. After rent and bills/grocery, I've been saving most of my income for a deposit for years now, and I am still no closer because of hikes in rent and interest rates, and because of the cost-of-living crisis. 

To thrive in London, people who actually work for a living, need to have affordable housing in London.

Lack of affordable (or increasingly even unaffordable) housing blights the future of London, at least as a place where a wide range of people can live. No doubt those who are already rich will continue to get richer. 

Those who live in London also have to take some responsibility for it; the filthy streets, the lonely people, the broken fences that we could be encouraged to come together to help mend. 

It's hard though when the areas we once lived in and took some pride in price us out and we become afraid of each other.

London has a long and wonderful history of change, so it is possible for things to get better, or at least to change so that more people can feel part of the future of London. This may need us to turn from greed, perhaps for some to expect a little less materially, for economic growth to be shared more fairly, for fairer distribution to be prioritised over further unlimited growth (which, to return to the first point, now seems only to further enrich the rich).

Or in fewer words, we must understand the responsibility we have for and toward each other as well as ourselves.

But then I am some old lefty, obviously...