People's Question Time Online

In my area of east London/Essex, more than half the front gardens have disappeared over the last few years to make room for yet more off-street parking. 

This was done with the blessing of the council who has imposed no restrictions to the amount of paving taking place, resulting in front garden after front garden being totally paved over. 

This has led to a huge loss of green spaces, shrubs and trees which, not only are key wildlife habitats in urban settings but are also, according to the World Health Organisation, beneficial to mental health and the reduction in air polutants.  This loss has also led to increased polution and risk of flash flooding as well as general warming through tree felling and brick heat retention. 

When is this going to be considered a serious issue when discussing how to tackle air polution, climate change and enhancing our green spaces?

Everyone is alarmed about plastic in our rivers, seas and oceans.  The Thames in London is the focus of visits by  thousands of people every day, to the South Bank, and the riverside walkways from Kingston / Hounslow down to Havering / Bexley. The Thames is the jewel in London's crown, but it is also a victim of plastic waste.

Thousands of plastic bottles,cups, and food containers are left on the riverside Flood wall by people who pause, sit or lean on the wall, and then drink or eat.  This happens every day and evening along the busiest sections, from County Hall, and the Festival Hall, down to London Bridge, City Hall and Tower Bridge.   After consuming their food or drink, people either  deposit their litter in a bin (and these are not as frequent or emptied frequently as necessary), or walk away, leaving their litter on top of the wall, or at the foot of railings such as those at the Festival Hall  area.  Sadly, many people walk away.  The litter then falls or is blown by the wind from the top of the wall into the Thames or on to the beaches below. It rolls under the railings. On the narrow top of the flood wall, there is a just single horizontal rail to deter sitting, but litter passes easily through the gap between rail and parapet.

Bankside open spaces trust, Lambeth and Southwark Councils pick up litter and empty bins on land. Thames 21, Port of London Authority carry out litter picking and collection from the river.  I contacted 4 of these to suggest that litter in the Thames would be minimised if a better railing could be placed on top of the flood wall, designed to catch the litter and stop it falling into the river.  All these organisations clear up waste, but no-one is STOPPING it enter.

Please could the GLA (1) bring all these groups together, and (2) between them fund a new railing designed to catch the litter ?  This is urgently needed, to stop this pollution.

Dear Mr Mayor, 

I agree that London needs a greener economy as & when we emerge from C Virus.  Would The Mayor agree on two large scale 

actions that would very much help us all ..  1. Ban delivery companies' mopeds & motorbikes and make them use bicycles instead. 

This will result in better air quality & more relaxed roads throughout the capital. 

2. Stop the destruction of our much loved green park & over 50 mature trees of York Gardens SW11.  There is a perfect brown site nearby 

for them to build on , but their multi-millionaire buyers don't want to live so close to the real local people. The new gardens will be smaller ,

less mature trees & might be delivered in 12 years time. Too late for my 3 year old daughter who has breathing difficulties already & who is 

forecast to die from the toxic dusts over those years. We cannot move because of ACM Cladding.  We desperately need that green & those 

mature trees to clean the air & for us to exercise all that time .. and no one trusts Wandsworth Council & Taylor Wimpey builders - as they 

have misled us many many times. 

Has the mayors office looked at the possibilty of power generation from the Thames as an unused tidal resource. Example the unused bridge arches could have hydro turbines / Waterwheels fitted, so that they are powered by the in and out flow of the Thames which has a powerful flow most of the day and night. This could be used for localised power needs such street lighting, electric charge points for electric vehicles, public building lights, building uses such as heating, Underground stn power for TFL. Im sure many other uses could found as well. The Thames is their 24/7 as a natural resource 

I like to ask The Mayor of London since his been in power what has he done to rebuild our debilitating High Streets and Shops especially in my borough of Haringey?!

I like to know if The Mayor of London has ever found the time since being in power to visit Wood Green OR Turnpike Lane High street and Shops to see the appalling way of life that residents and businesses have to live with because you do not care about our neck of the woods..

There might be a high statics of benefit claimers in the Borough of Haringey but there is also a lot of hardworking people who pay their taxes and council fees which should be given to make good our communities and improve our lives and not be left on the scrap heap just because the people at the top have neglected their duties which has brought in a vast majority of unsavoury people with drink and drug abuse and armed with guns and knives this is only because people like yourself do not show you care.

Our Boroughs where once very sophisticated and we where proud to be apart of a warm thriving community but now we have to live in a sterile environment where buildings are collapsing also our good quality shops are being closed down and a many cheap knock of shops..fatty food shops..charity shops are being allowed to open by Haringey Council due to greed and no thought of what the community would like to see which tells me there is no Democracy but a lot of hush hush going on behind closed doors.

If you really want a London to be proud of then you got to put in the hard work not just by telling us but showing us that's how we become united as a community and as a country..just like the Europeans who are proud of their warm friendly culture and have passion for their way of life as the people working in local authorities value and love their country, so if you see their High street and Shops that are kept prestine and to a respectable standard unlike ours unloved.

Dear Mr Khan,

I watched Mayor's QT last week in which you acknowledged PM2.5's are 'not monitored and that you are looking into this'.  In light of the Environment Bill being debated shortly what will you do to make sure PM2.5's are included in the air quality monitoring process especially in the area around your proposed Silvertown Tunnel?  And in light of the climate crisis and because there is substantiated scientific evidence saying this tunnel will increase pollution levels and congestion, not decrease them, do you now think it is time to back up your green credentials and cancel the Silvertown Tunnel? 

Dear Mr. Khan,

I was wondering if another pedestrian day will take place in London soon, and if you are planning to do it more often? Enjoying a day without any car in the center of the city is the best experience I had so far. It could also contribute to tackle polution issues. 

Thank you,

Elora.

Why are you approving the construction of the Silvertown Tunnel despite clear evidence of the detrimental effect of the project and opposition from an overwhelming amount of MPs and Councillors who represent the people who live in the area that will cause environmental damage to?

What will you do to ensure waste management is improved and we meet and/or exceed recycling 60% of waste by 2030, when on a whole the UK produces around 400 million tonnes of waste which increases by 3% every year; only 18 of the London boroughs segregate food waste, and many people living in flats do not have the option to recycle their waste? 

Will the mayor consider adding the new Green Energy Co-operative, www.WeAreEnergy.coop to his solar plans for London? 

This new member owned co-operative is designed to give every household and business the opportunity to generate, store and control their own renewable energy at no upfront cost. Help #savetheplanet and #fightclimatechange.

The carbon budgets defined for London by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, to stay in line with the Paris agreements, mean that emissions would have to be cut far more rapidly than is envisaged by the GLA environment strategy. And while the environment strategy is far behind what is needed, the assumptions made by TfL for greenhouse gas emissions from road traffic are far, far behind the environment strategy.

Since, as years of research has shown, more roads produce more traffic, this means that the Silvertown Tunnel project is completely incompatible with the GLA environment strategy, let alone with the sort of action needed to tackle dangerous global warming. (For details on the numbers, see the Stop Digging report, on the Transport Action Network web site.) 

The tunnel, if built, as well as blasting a hole in London's efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, will worsen the air pollution situation. Given the crisis into which TfL has been thrown, through no fault of its own, due to the coronavirus pandemic, surely the sensible thing to do is cancel the tunnel. Resources freed up - money, management resources, etc - could be used to redouble efforts to support public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure.

The tunnel was a bad idea before the pandemic. Now it's a terrible and dangerous one. Is it not time to cancel it?

Thank you for everything you've done for improving air quality in London. Please could you outline steps for more stringent measures particularly outside schools, where developing lungs are being affected daily but unacceptably high levels of air pollution?

The 150-year old Happy Man Tree, N4, remains under threat from a housing development. Yet it has just been announced the winner of the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year 2020. 

1) Can it be saved?

2) Can you consider making it London's official tree? As a city with nearly 50% green space, that fact should be affirmed, in order to promote London's civic identity. The London Plane is the most prevalent tree in London, and this majestic living example, as an urban survivor, would be the perfect symbol for our city. All in all, a unique tree for a unique city. Plus, a petition to you is fast gathering signatures: http://chng.it/Y6sCMsrs

Understandably the pandemic is the top priority at the moment but why are people at least not being encouraged to buy reusable masks only? Given the way this pandemic began in the first place, shouldn’t we be doing all we can to make sure that our interaction with the environment becomes a more positive one? Plastic pollution is detrimental to our oceans, animals and to our own health and putting the word ‘resuable’ before masks in speeches and rules is the least that can be done here