High Streets for All

The mission is clearly backwards looking, harking back to the days of villages and small towns - I'm surprised it doesn't ask for the return of cottage hospitals. To make London a better place there needs to be a stop on growth until the infrastructure is brought up to the standards necessary to serve the current population. 

High Streets in their present form will die. You cannot turn back the clock. High Streets need to adapt to the new shopping habits. Out of town shopping centres offer a day out experience with shopping and a full range of leisure activities. High Streets do not offer a pleasant shopping experience.

The Mayor and London Assembly need to be realistic and separate in their mindsets suburban areas (the majority of London) from the West End and City.  It is in suburban London that reviving the high streets is essential and on the whole people in suburban London do not travel to their local high street shops by public transport, but by CAR.  Therefore make suburban London high streets a whole lot more welcoming to cars and with plentiful easy local parking, so that people will use local shops for shopping and thereby revive the high street etos and culture.

The other most important factor is to heavily control suburban London high street rents, as landlords are only too keen to 'cash in' when leases expire and put up the rent 'sky high', so that the existing shops have no choice to close down and we end up with local high streets full of nothing but beauty parlours, betting shops, estate agents, hairdressers, building societies, charity shops, coffee bars, fast food sellers and some shops boarded up.  When did anyone last see a greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger, newsagent, toy shop or ironmonger/DIY shop on a London suburban high street??!!

Cycling needs to be safe in London - proper cycle paths that are off the road or blocked off from it and that don't stop half way down a main road. 
Buses, taxis should all be green. Many of the local high streets are based around main routes into London - it's unpleasant to walk along them because of the fumes / congestion. 

The most successful urban areas do NOT isolate traffic and pedestrains and cycles form each other - they encourage a combined, aware use of the shared space - this is the way to create a respectful, accessible community. Encourage walking and cycling - discourage car use - especially for short journeys (the school run should NEVER be necessary to do by car). The low emission zone could be extended and local councils should have more freedom to restrict or tax parking and driving. Trades people should be encouraged (by financial stimulus?) to go electric for their transport. Less cars gives more space for public transport, walking, cycling and green spaces as well as clean air - some car/van journeys and deliveries are necessry but how many really?

Local initiatives could very well minimise the need to for air polluting food and goods miles - local delivery and distribution centres could really reduce the number of vans - we used to have it and it used to work - it was called ROYAL MAIL :) (and we used to own it!)

How about councils and neighbourhoods being given 'greening' bonuses?

London is not the size of Amsterdam or Berlin so comparisons don’t work.  Why does suddenly everyone want to be confined to the 3 mile radius around their house?  I live in London because it is a big city and I can go to different places – this is a bonus!  Shopping locally – it’s too expensive (local shops are more exepnsive than the pricest supermarkets). It takes too long and I don’t want to carry 10 shopping bags of food in my hands. I’d much rather go once a week to a large supermarket, buy everything and get it over and done with quickly, then spend hours going from shop to shop to buy all I need for the week. Beyond buying food, shopping is really not something I do unless absolutely necessary. Online shopping has been a godsend long before Covid-19.  Walking is great, I go for strolls when I have time which is very rare. And I certainly don’t do it locally but go to Soho or Covent Garden or elsewhere in central London. Nothing will make my area appealing enough for me to want to spend my time here.  I don’t ride a bike and I don’t’ want to ride a bike so please stop with the bikes.  Do something for the vast majority of Londoners who don’t ride bikes (yes, we are still a vast majority).  My friends live too far to walk  to and my life happens away from where I live so don't make it harder for me to move around London.  Once we can safely use public transport again, it will be better but again, don’t ruin the streets for public transport, this is still how majority of people move around London.   Come up with better employment opportunities for people, other than working in shops.15 min city? I’m pretty sure my employer is not about to give up their central London HQ and move to Hackney for my benefit. Don’t close side roads to traffic, you’re only pushing traffic into a smaller number of streets and making life hell for people who live in them.

I think that local councils need to lower rents on high streets to encourage small businesses to grow and prosper.  I think that cycle routes need to be reined in as far to many, I depend on public transport for work and leisure and these should be maintained. Car users are fine for local trips but why anyone needs to drive into the centre unless essential workers. 

Cycling in the city is dangerous and new cycle lanes will not be useful until cyclist behaviour is addressed.   Cyclists need to be held accountable for their behaviour in exactly the same ways cars are.   They should be registered and have to pass a written test showing an understanding of the rules of the road.  I know, this is a lot to ask, but as someone who has been almost hit by other cyclists as well as car drivers, we need to do something.  

Also closing off or narrowing too many roads will just make it harder for people in certain needed professions to get around.  This includes tradesmen, not to mention emergency services.   I think better cycle lanes, possibly blocked off from the road for safety should be a first stop. 

In relation to the high streets, while that is a great goal, the reality is the death of the high street has a lot to do with not being able to compete with the larger companies and that would need to be addressed in some way.  

A high street near me (not in walking distance) has widened the pavements, removing parking along that side of the street and is proposing to do it on the other side too. The road has now become so narrow that busses cannot safely pass each other and lorries often cause huge issues as the thread their way along it..

Stopping cars from being able to park on high streets will further kill off the shops and people who want to stop & shop etc either planned or on a whim are now unable to do so.

Also closing side roads is insane, you'll just push more vehicles onto the main roads, causing more congestion and more pollution etc etc...

Urban greening is just the middle classes trying to push up their house prices . If they want their roads to be closed to cars they should not be allowed to have a car at all . Talk about drawing around the waggons .

Sorry, different issue from my last post... as a non-driver, dependent on walking and public transport into and around London, I always felt quite virtuous. This is how we were supposed to behave. The current crisis has stood that on its head. In the past three weeks I have made my first three trips on public transport since the end of March, none lasting longer than 30 minutes.

Officially, our buses and trains are still supposed to be reserved for "essential journeys" i.e. for work, hospital appointments and emergencies. Yet we're being urged to support shops and places of entertainment since they reopened.

I agree with the previous comments about business failures in our high streets - this had already begun. My local high street is now mostly coffee shops and betting shops - for "proper" shopping, and a trip to the bank, you need transport: I can't see that improving post-COVID. 

The City, as I saw for myself a few days ago, is still largely a ghost town, with people working from home. At the end of this crisis it may be left with a lot of unoccupied office space, and closed bars, restaurants and coffee shops which used to serve workers.

Please take on board that many Londoners who live and work in London live on a main high street or city centre A road.  Do not close too many side roads to through traffic as you are only protecting those lucky enough to live on a side road.  Forcing more congestion onto the main roads comes at a human cost.  If you want the high streets to survive you need people to be able to live on them too, open up more roads to traffic make that traffic greener, control parking and keep London streets for everyone. Cycling alone is not the answer, nor is closing side roads.  The congestion zone came at a cost to my street which feeds the ring road and has seen far more congestion and pollution thanks to concentrating traffic on unsuitable roads as a policy...

I agree with the comments on the mixed levels of income within one borough - this seems to be better than in other cities, but lower and middle income people continue to be pushed out. A particular concern is the loss of housing in the centre of London. Even when housing is built, maintained or converted, it seems to be empty in many cases due to functioning mainly as investment. If the lockdown situation recurs, it will be hard for local business - and if they go, what remains? It is already difficult for businesses in central London with the high rents and the constant exodus of people.

This strikes me as an appealing mission, but a singularly unambitious one. Look at Copenhagen and Amsterdam for models of how to move people onto bicycles. London roads are dangerous for cycles. Over the past couple of decades, Zurich has closed large areas of the city core to automobiles, creating a vibrant and delightful area, and driving a substantial reduction in automobile traffic. We need a lot more than a few more bikeways to change the noise, pollution, carbon emissions, and danger to cyclists and pedestrians caused by cars.

Another problem we'll be talking a lot more about over the coming months is the number of failed businesses in the high streets. The pandemic isn't over, and the economic fallout has just begun. As we lose more and more businesses, the goals of this mission will become harder and harder to achieve. We need much more support for retail business to ride out the pandemic.

Stop B Johnson's foolish rush into planning deregulation. It is a total nonsense to claim that 'red tape' is preventing housing developments. 

Haven't the big developers said that they cannot build because there are nowhere near enough skilled workers in the UK to do the work?

Johnson and all need to stop and think it through.  

Planning needs change - change to enable safer housing for pandemics, as there will be more to come.  Housing in which it is possible to isolate individuals - more than one bathroom. Bathrooms so small that toilets are jammed up against walls, washbasin and bath, such that it is impossible to clean them safely, & men's pee invisibly splashes all over everything. Homes with some space for working from home as well as for younger people to do homework, and designed for quieter rooms (acoustic insulation standards).  Re-introduce space and light standards for housing. 

Upgrade environmental protection so that noise nuisance is illegal and effectively policed, to enable adults to work from home and children to do homework, and most importantly to improve human health, increase resilience against Covid and other pandemic viruses. 

Time to make a substantial qualitative improvement to the home enviroment, the homes, the buildings, the surroundings. 

I would like to see a more accountable grown up approach to the obvious problems on the high street. More cycle parks, better communication between councillors and the public, no more short term knee jerk decisions. Development must include social housing written into the building contract. No more big pay offs, or salaries, no more secrete meetings behind closed doors more transparency. Yes I know I am dreaming.

One thing I would just like to throw out there is that people often say they want to support local business, including local grocers etc.

However, local business often means more expensive food etc at questionable quality. I wanted to try some locally sourced vegan options, like locally grown vegetables etc, and the price is around 4-5 times higher than what I get from supermarket chains. 

The same extends to clothes and more - and I don't think the effect in the environment is significant enough to warrant such a premium. So for high streets with such shops to thrive, they need to be in an area, where customers are sufficiently rich to afford such a premium (and willing to pay it). And let's face it, this is not the majority of London. 

I notice this myself, Corona and tight budgets have meant the best way to buy anything is online. It is cheaper, easier and often higher quality. However, what sets local shops apart is the experience itself - customer service, the ambience and more - but for whom is this enough to warrant paying 300-400% of the normal price?

This is not meant to be an essay, but rather a collection of thoughts - while local high streets sound idyllic, how can they profitably differentiate themselves with such fierce competition from online?

I look forward to read some comments on this.

This should be the main plank of the London economic recovery plan, and the actions proposed are essential but woefully inadequate, and much too slow.  As if it isn't being taken very seriously.  

Ensure that offices in the centre of London are converted to affordable and social rent housing, of good quality and designed for Covid-19 reality, ie for working at home and enabling of isolating at home.  But protect workplaces out in the 'burbs and high streets.

Fast-track local neighbourhood resurgence programmes. Packages to entice to the neighbourhoods, and support, the types of small and medium businesses that were servicing central London and City workers.  

People who work from home don't need to go out for a coffee, lunch or a snack. But they might like to, and to socialise while doing so.

Design local casual eateries with comfortable seating, space for distancing, where people can also work on their laptops.  Or some kind of home workers membership structure.  

Shift shopping/leisure streets off the main road, with ecofriendly redesign, very green and child-friendly. 

Village greens? 

Restructure public transport -  enable travel between various localities rather than just into and out of central London.

Provide venues locally for arts, theatre, music, other events. 

Ensure there are many unique characterful localities in many areas outside the centre of London, with good public transport provision and redesign of roads for cycling.  To take tourism out from the centre. 

Decentralise London. Take the pressure off the West End, Knightsbridge, etc.  

Think a big redistribution of hospitality, leisure and work, redesign, rebuild, rejuvenate. 

What about: incentives for every borough to build a cycle town which includes affordable housing and local amenities but no access for cars (except disabled); free travel and opening hours after 7.00 pm (it is not healthy for the vast amount of the London population to be in their houses in the evening); trend analysis to establish what type of business is currently increasing footfall with associated support for such businesses ( I support reduced business rates but not sure that would be healthy across the board if it just meant more mobile phone unlocking shops); business rate holiday of a year for any business taking over premises which have been empty for six months; incentives for every borough to support at least one live music venue; banning cars from parking directly outside shops ( there are a lot of businesses who lose trade by parking their own cars outside their shops so that it is difficult to see what they are selling).