Have your say on the proposed London Budget for 2021-2022

Housing remains a major issue at the heart of any discussion regarding the rapidly decreasing quality of life awaiting several Londoners. You talk of the economic impact of the pandemic, but why not reframe that issue, and instead of looking at it in terms of how to limit the damage, you should focus instead on how to ease the anxiety/burden. One of the major concerns facing Londoners anxious about what awaits is the issue over whether or not they'll still be able to pay rent. I recognise that calls to abolish/halt rent payments is far too radical and unrealistic. Instead, however, London authorities, especially the councils, should look at ways of alleviating/forcibly reducing the extortionate rates attached to the vast majority of London properties, which can in no way continue to be justified given the major economic downturn that awaits. This should be implemented not only regarding people moving into new properties, but also pre-existing tenants, as if landlords are given the chance to maintain unjustifiably high rates unchecked, they have shown us time and time again they will do so. It's sickening to see how, under Livingstone, Johnson and you too Khan, great swathes of London properties have been sold away purely for money laundering via construction, and speculation. Meanwhile, everyday working people who were born in this city, and know London as their one and only home, struggle endlessly to keep up with outrageous prices that in no way reflect the quality of housing provided. Slum landlords, money launderers and construction moguls have done untold damage in this regard, and local councils have grown fat off of grandiose, unwanted and largely empty building projects. The pandemic, and the economic decline that awaits, will only see this problematic situation exacerbated, and you can help prevent this by a policy of either stricter regulation of rents, or a large scale support scheme regarding them.

I would prefer to see a more holistic stance, Housing, Employment, assistance for small businesses, Education.

There appears to be a tunnel vision at the moment with Pullution! Danger to cyclists.  There is away this - better cycle lanes,away from traffic, traffic and speed control limits 20-30mph, and initiatives to make electric cars more affordable - extra taxes creates unfairness, doesn't consider all needs, creates inefficiency and inequality! 

choice of travel being taken away from people who have less money. 

in 2021 we have people living in unhealthy homes, restricted access to employment, educational needs for many not being invested into enough, small businesses going into liquidation, a lot of inequality! 

We need initiatives which will assist residents to afford to be able to purchase electric cars, to help with environmental issues.  Rather than money incentives which create inequality of not being able to own a car, unless you have lots of money.  It's about healthy choice, not everyone can jump on a bicycle for all journeys, let's think about everyone's needs.

We need more council housing, housing associations cannot deal with the demand so the quality and sustainability of decent homes is poor, a lack of new council properties doesn't help.

we need more employment initiatives particularly for the young cohorts.

Why do costs of publicly-funded projects (e.g. the Elizabeth line) ALWAYS escalate and entail delays - often years.    Nobody would engage a builder without ensuring there were guarantees built into the contract to cover such eventualities and ensure the customer is not out of pocket or inconvenienced.    And yet where these projects are concerned public funds are, apparently, limitless.

The tyranny of the bicycle continues unabated.   Apparently over 70% of cyclists are white males and it does not appear to occur to anybody involved in planning that not everybody is young/fit enough to walk and cycle everywhere.    They are not the ones, presumably, who are responsible for shopping, taking children to school, delivering friends and relatives to appointments, etc.   If they were to research the lives of the vast majority of women in cities they would find that the words "Could you just ....." are heard often and usually involve journeys on behalf of others.

The extension of the ULEZ planned for next October has attracted nearly 150,000 signatures on a change.org Petition objecting to the plan.      The speed of this regulation will seriously affect people's lives and finances and requires a great deal more thought and consultation.

No attempt has been made to regulate and limit the mammoth building projects which are disrupting our cities and causing far more particle pollution than that generated by vehicles.    Why?   It is scandalous.

In regards to building strong communities, what will a community hub look like and how will the community hub be able to be accessed? How accessible is it for the everyday citizen and how possible is it for the majority of people to be given an opportunity to volunteer; especially considering that the pandemic has caused massive surges in unemployment and a massive reduction in work and training experiences, volunteering opportunities and employment possibilities?I would suggest that building strong communities should be a top priority; particularly through an accessible community hub which is publicised to as many people as possible. There should be advertisements scattered across all boroughs; a dedicated, safe space for people to access the hub in each borough and a digital space which is accessible to all people - particularly friendly to Londoners with disabilities which may hinder certain digital skills.

These community hubs should also be places where people can go for support - each one having it's own food bank where the most deprived members of society can go for support. There should be a significant amount of provision for the homeless, assisting these people to improving their lives through prioritised access to council housing, mentors and care workers to help them feel comfortable in all areas of everyday life. 

By putting a significant allocation of the budget into building strong communities, especially through targetting homelessness, it will create more job opportunities and volunteering opportunities which will have a wider positive impact across all communities.

Nothing within this draft budget shows any remorse to the homeless,  a group who have been vastly ignored within the past year due to COVID-19 and the mayor seriously needs to consider the horrendous consequences of continuing ignorance towards the people who have been at such high risk of infection and worse over the pandemic.

I believe that the Mayor of London should be able to borrow to invest - or perhaps have access to some form of Quantitative Easing facility in the interest of creating a more equitable society

Also maybe customers of London Power can be provided with more information about how unit cost (Kwh) and standing charges (the true comparison site figures) are determined by utilities companies that are endorsed by the Mayor (e.g. Octopus Energy) to ensure a transparent, sustainable and competitive indication of value for money.

I believe that the Mayor should use this budget to ensure that there is support and provision for Londoners including young people between the ages of 18 and 25, to be able to find suitable and good employment opportunities within the next couple years as London slowly recovers from the current pandemic. In addition, I also believe that more businesses should be supported as well with this budget, as it may take a while for businesses to fully recover. This will therefore mean that businesses will either stop or reduce the amount of jobs they are able to offer as well as apprenticeships and school leaver programmes. Linking on from the topic of school leaver programmes, it would make a massive impact on young people if there was more of these offered and promoted to them as an alternative to the common educational pathways.

To truly keep in mind the young people in London we must consider:

young people in vulnerable set ups 

accessibility to services 

young people with experience in justice, social and health services 

young people at university 

recovery following the pandemic 

Some ideas I as a 21 year old living alone with care experience, studying at university and my peer group we have come up with are the following:

1. more recruitment initiatives for more social workers / personal advisors 

- the workload is too much for these professionals and it's hard to establish a good rapport between professionals and young people if there is a lack of connection between them 

2. allowing university tuition AND maintenance loan to be cleared if university students wish to drop out in 2021-2022 due to the pandemic 

3. Developing some form of compulsory donation building contractors need to pay towards the development of council housing (especially studio flats and 1 bedroom flats for young people with care experience who have nowhere else to stay) - housing initiatives need to stay labelled as a high priority 

4. the development and accessibility of existing mental health services whilst mobilising it to be accessible on platforms for young people

5. It should be compulsory for every young person in care aged 14 - 18 (or 25 if still in education) to have free mental health assessments (testing for dyslexia, autism, adhd, ptsd) as these are the young people that often are left in the dark to fend for themselves and develop an exterior that is stronger than necessary and thus they may find it more difficult to communicate about their issues or may develop it later in life 

Narrow roads need to be expaned espically in London where it can get really busy. With life after COVID 19 the streets and roads will be packed with people driving cars, bicycles, motobikes also to prevent any accidents there needs to be more safe points where broken down cars on the highway can go to like a pitspot with machanices already on the roads to help. Speed detectors we need more of these in london where people would try race each other on the narrow roads or on the highway and speeding can cause great accidents.

I feel putting more moeny towards people that was not born and rasied in london support in terms of jobs and houseing 

 Education is a top priority we need the young kids who are in mainstream school and in PRU to be safe and healthy espcially with pandemic going on it is a must that all schools have equipment suitbale to help kids learn and medical equipment for those who fall ill in school. There are also kids who travel on busses and trains just to attend school so it should be fair that the schools provide the young people with atleast £5-£10 every month or every 3 weeks on travel cards so the young people can use this travel cards for school purposes. the kids who are free school meals can use this travel card to get to school and people who live a great distance from their schools. We have kids from 1 borough travelling to a different borough to get to school or someone who is in east london travelling north west just to attend school.

I also think that, especially given the strain that the pandemic has put on everyone's mental health, the focus on wellbeing is really important. Too many people are currently suffering with mental health problems in silence and I don't think there are enough services currently provided to help all of these people. I'm glad to see that this issue has been highlighted in the budget and I hope that this will mean more people can access the help they need in the future.

In today's society, i feel putting money towards young people having opportunities and experience in what they want to in future will be benefit towards young people and improve crime rate in london. from my own experience, having a opportunity had a big impact on my ife and saw the postives of working legit and learning new skills that is not really shown in schools. putting money towards this will have impact on the young community 

I think the proposal "A New Deal For Young People" is a really good idea as the provision for young people has needed improvement for some time now. I think the next generation will really benefit from having access to mentors and opportunities that will help them get a good start in life. However, I think it would be important to allocate this funding in a way that benefits the most vulnerable first. Some young people will need more support than others, and I think the budgeting should reflect this and allocate more funding to the groups that need it the most.

I believe the mayors office should help businesses and other public spaces to reduce the spread of coronavirus and reduce energy needs through grants to install mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems. Failing that, a covid-secure business rating system similar to food standards that will encourage all businesses to do the maximum so we can reopen public spaces as soon as possible. I also believe that the mayors office should encourage outdoor activities in 2021 by providing budget for cultural activities that can take place in a covid-secure way.

I've heard that a comprehensive plan for protected and connected cycle lanes was once drawn up. Where is it? Has it ever been debated? We absolutely need it now. Even when this pandemic has shown the necessity to build protected cycle lanes right across the capital, progress has been at a snail's pace. In some Boroughs, nothing has been done since March! We need protected cycle lanes on 'side streets' as well as major roads, with safe junctions. That will require removing many on-street parking spaces, and yes reducing the number of motor vehicles in London. I guess most decision makers on transport know that you can't have a susbtantial development in safe cycling and walking infrastructure and keep the same number of motor vehicles on the road. Admitting that takes political courage.

Can there be full ownership apartments that have freehold lease or 999 years for first time buyers with regular jobs for reasonable prices in London? Londoners are being driven out of London because rent and buying a property is so extortionate.