London’s risk from rising temperatures

we would love to add external shutters, but living in a conservation area means that most of the sensible measures we would take to mitigate against changing weather - shutters, solar panels, white roof, improved drainage - are blocked by the local council planning department

I have improved my home environment by adding external shading to one side of the house. The other side is visible from a conservation area and condemned to overheat until the local council realises that the world changes and so do views from windows.

We need a city-wide (nation-wide?) programme to incentivize the planting/retaining of trees and green spaces in front gardens, and disincentives to concrete and pave, especially with non-porous hardstanding. I've lived in my current street for 15 years and the trend continues apace for plants and trees to be replaced by concrete and paving. This makes the street hotter, reduces shade, worsens air quality and prevents water soaking into the ground, as well as generally making the place look and feel less attractive.

I have Multiple Sclerosis and I suffer greatly in this heat. There is no respite and nowhere I can go to cool down unless I start to feel really, really bad and that would be me having to go to A&E which I am trying to avoid. I truly can't understand why news and weather presenters keep saying in very gleeful voices how it is going to be hotter here than in the Bahamas or similar. As far as I am concerned this is a catastrophy and a very scary time for me. I live in a small council flat with no garden, no balcony and pretty bad windows = I don't even have windowsills. I'm trapped at home until the weather cools down. I also live on  avery polluted street - Red Route road - and it is pretty much unbearable at the moment. My husband has respiratory issues and the heat and pollution is very bad for himm too. Wish something would be done soonest, starting with getting rid of the outdated and useless Red Routes!

It is hot in London please help us.  

The thing that didn't come up enough as an option in the questionnaire (just once) was around the importance of natural shade and mature trees especially - trees take time to grow and we could do with so many more around during hot weather, especially lining our streets where we walk to keep cooler. Its crazy we have so many private vehicles parked, taking up space, when we could shift people to car-sharing instead (if done effectively would not result in people not being able to drive) and free up kerbside space for more trees - but we need to do this quickly for it to be effective as summers get hotter.

The mayor and councils have pollarded and cut down so many trees it’s useless to say authorities would help.They introduce electric buses which the passengers swelter in cos both the engine and batteries are within the bus.Bring back the old diesel route masters and leave the doors open.

The mayor and councils have built over any green spaces with concrete. They do not create any new vast green spaces.They have built so many stupid cycle lanes that all public transport is slowed down.

The mayor is a disgrace and he actually got knighted.

Things like air con are after the vent stuff - they use A LOT of energy... we need loads more mitigation before the event...

1. Reduce the amount of black asphalt - reduce the number of cars / parking spaces  - make it less easy to drive.  Replace asphalt with trees and SUDS

2. More shade from drought resistant trees - more seating / rest spaces in the shade - at frequent intervals to enable people to walk... with drinking water fountains at each one.

3. Over and above these two, then implement some of the things that were mentioned in the survey - but those are secondary to the above.

I'm lucky enough to live in a modern house with excellent ventilation and shutters on all windows/bifold doors, so it's easy to let in air when it's cool then close up the house during the hot part of the day, which makes a big difference. There are also a lot of trees in my area which provide excellent shade cover, and having easy access to green spaces with lots of trees - not just acres of grass - helps. I wish there were more open air swimming places though. The nearby Lido and Reservoir both get rammed on hot days

We definitely need some initiative similar to solar panels to get aircon units installed in houses. Landlords should be more responsible for their properties' temperatures, there should be penalties for those that exceed upper or lower safety limits 

Lots of people here advocating for trees and green space -- absolutely agree, these serve many overlapping purposes. Reducing the huge area of the city dedicated to cars (for some reason) would open up a lot of opportunity to set up mini-gardens etc.

I think the biggest things I have noticed are needing more shade, from trees or other sources, especially at bus stops. That, and that flats are just not designed to deal with heat, so there either needs to be A/C or some form of better insulation/shutters/ventilation. Otherwise if you have a room where the sun comes directly in during the day it just becomes a sauna. 

Green belt: The mayor mentions green space in London but then proposes to build homes on the brown and green belt. 

Office temperature: need a legal maximum and minimum temperature in offices. For people working outdoors, consider working flexibly, early morning or late evening 

Construction: bricks are one of the worst for carbon emissions and contribute to climate change. Alternative recycled materials to be used by house builders or sustainable development before planning granted.

schools: dress codes relaxed in hot weather for teachers and students, eg no jackets. Or school closures for temperature over 30c

More cool spaces and water fountains open (never seen one in the local area in London)

Transport: air con in underground or some cooling system. Appreciate that is not possible on certain lines but please do not stop in the tunnels between stations when the train is full during a 30C heatwave.

Free or subsidised rooftop solar installation.
 

I note that a really good measure would be to air condition the tube but this was not an option on the list.

So this feels to me like another leading survey from the Mayor. I see this as yet another attempt to justify extra expenditure on bad policies like bike lanes, justified as green.

During 2022 heatwave and all heatwaves, I make an effort to go to the office where I have air con. I also use Citymapper app to plan my tube journey as it gives you options for routes with air con all the way. At night I filled hot water bottles with cold water, and wet my hair before bed. In future I am thinking of buying an air con unit. Public information campaigns helped- I now know that parks and green spaces are cooler so I go to these places when I’m feeling hot at home. The map showing cooler parts of London also is good. Water refill points are also great. 

The priority for London should be air con across all public transport, including real trains. Libraries should also all have air con so that there are free places to go to escape the heat when it gets too much.  After that, we need more access to outdoor water to bathe in. More lidos, or even just small paddling ponds. 
More should be done to design housing to keep cooler- better insulation and more buildings painted lighter colours. Flats are unbearable and the only solution right now is to buy air con.

It always feels like workplaces are not pressured enough to deal with heat well. As it's where most of us spend most of our time, shouldn't there be limits on temperature for working? It makes the days intolerable in high summer and productivity is affected but they never seem to do anything apart from provide fans which don't help much! 

We need: Trees, shade, water points, and  places where you can get wet to cool down are all important. Aircon on public transport. Better building design and retro fitting to deal with overheated buildings.  Why do we have  so much glass - cold in winter and hot in summer?

I use a medical ice pack to help to get cool enough to sleep