High Streets for All

I'd like more diversity and independence on the high street. My local high street is made up primarily of bars and nightclubs. I have to travel to find local food suppliers, clothing, gifts, coffee etc rather than big supermarkets and chains. I'd like to shop from independent stores where the money stays local 
 

Improved cycle lanes throughout the city would be imperative so the 15 minutes becomes a bigger circuit. 
 

New Covent Garden market up and running for wholesale good quality food available in the daytime 

Improved licensing and cheaper rents for pop up stores and events to encourage diversity and variety so the 15 minute zone does not become boring. Please support innovation and small businesses!

Its a good mission but you also need to focus on keeping small businesses in the town centres. I live in Crystal Palace and I know of several enterprising and innovative people who have each opened a small business, made a decent living out of them for a couple of years and then had to close down because of unaffordable rate increases. What's the point of road allocations etc if there's nothing much in the way of businesses to attract people to the high street?

"90% of Londoners live within 10 minutes of their high street"

If shops are closing and struggling for business, the problem does not lie with "access" given that the population is already physically in place to make use of their local businesses and services. Adding bicycle lanes won't help - if anything, that would mostly make things worse because that will increase congestion and remove space for those who drive and need parking.

If you really want to help, start with cutting red tape and reducing the business rates that are payable. those two things alone will go a long way to ensuring that a high street business can exist and be profitable.

I fully support the short, medium and long terms listed above. However, I'd like to see more pressure from the Mayor and London Assembly to get councillors on board with installing good quality cycle and walking infrastructure. Far too often good ideas are born at the top and councillors either oppose them or are too slow to implement them (Haringey council being a fine example of this). Making high streets easier to get to by foot and cycle is imperative to get them thriving once more. Much needs to be undone from all the damage caused by having our high streets dominated by motor traffic - such as pavement widening, continuous pavements/cycle tracks at side roads, protected cycle tracks on main roads, plentiful cycle parking and filtered residential streets. But the rate of progress is too slow, or non-existent, in many London boroughs.

This is all very well, but what makes London work is it has the population size to enable a vast diversity of businesses to be established, because the catchment of potential customers can be enormous. Competition and choice is good for consumers, as is businesses being able to attract customers far and wide.  They wont thrive if town centres are cauterised to being only withint walking and cycling distance of potential customers, particularly in outer London.  It's all very well for the able-bodied and young, but a significant proportion of Londoners in outer London own cars and drive, because the don't work and live near a tube or railway station that is convenient.  Cars will remain an important mode for families, the elderly and those too poor to live near a high street that meets their needs (let alone one that has the topography that suits most people cycling). 

The wishful thinking of central planners ignores the point that the key reasons high streets are dying are a mix of business rates, fear of crime (in some locations) and poor access more generally. Targeted local projects to enhance the environment with more greening and pleasant public spaces are positive, but the ideologically driven crusade to take away car parking and make roads more congested damages local economies.  High streets have been badly hit by Covid19 and the rise of online retailing.  The reality is that some high streets will have more HOMES than shops in the longer term, and this simply reflects consumer choice and the difficulties of travelling to many town centres from further afield.

Car-free and carefree has a ring to it!  I am also aware that motorbikes might take their place and they are awfully noisy. If we can have express buses between boroughs that would be great. Creating a city where wildlife can flourish would be the pinnacle of civilisation. I believe how humans treat each other is intrinsically linked to how we treat nature, improve the latter and this will impact the former. Also let's raise the status of hobbies as these are linked to mental health and wellbeing. Perhaps hobby libraries to share in common interests.

Support innovation and local character in local hubs by having regions where businesses & shops have a maximum size, mainly aimed at forcing an area to consist of single premises businesses. Allow them to grow by permitting a period (5 years?) where they can retain the original site after branching out. 

Support cycling through planning regulations. Kensington and Chelsea has recently permitted some large planning developments such as the Holiday Inn on Cromwell Road or Kensington Square where the rebuilt facilities have woefully inadequate facilities for cycling (showers, parking, lockers etc). For rich people like me, where City offices provide excellent cycling facilities, a substantial proportion of poeple jog or cycle to work. The Holiday Inn redevelopment will attract a lot of low wage workers both for the hotel and the casino - if we believe in a green future, they must be encouraged to cycle. This is also better for health and welfare - for example we've seen how vulnerable people are to Covid when forced to use public transport.

This is not entirely K&C's fault! The mayor should be ashamed for overriding K&C's planning decision.

Insist on the full social housing provision. More mixed neighbourhoods mean less commuting. The "it's too expensive" exemptions are not justified: allowing them changes the economic equilibrium size of a new property for example.

In K&C, housing has been emphasized in planning decisions over other uses. For example Heythrop College is being turned into a so-called care home where the care-home label is a fig-leaf pretext - the plans provide for minimal support. From a social purpose point of view, this should have been turned into student accommodation. Students at Imperial and other local institutions often have to live far out of London because of the cost, which also reduces the social exchange so essential to acadmic formation.

Change the planning rules to allow the council to stop the conversion of local workplaces into housing.  This is happening to Brake Shear House, Barnet (I don't know how far this has got in the building work).  We can't reduce the price of housing just by building more, but that's a different discussion.

In order for local high streets to flourish we need adequate transport links,  I am unable to cycle and have a 15 minute walk to the nearest bus stop or station.  My car is the only option to get to any shops so I opt for the out of town centres where I can park. 

Of course local shopping centres should be supported but the part of London which is really suffering is the 'West End' This is where you find the stores that need a large catchment area to survive. I am talking about Selfridges through to James Smith, the umbrella shop in Holborn,  plus many of the flagship restaurants. Those that you only find in the great world cities. However it seems that we are discouraged from travelling into the Centre. Many people have been frightened off from using public transport and the extension of the congestion charge zone times puts off car drivers especially at weekends when the West End is normally less crowded. Instead we are encouraged to walk or cycle. I live in Wandsworth and would not consider those options for a journey of several miles especially today when the temperature is forecasted to reach 37 degrees. We need a positive marketing campaign to get people travelling by train, bus and the underground. For example, some of the old posters created during the past 100 years would be perfect to put on all the public transport sites especially when paid for advertising demand has collapsed.  Other marketing initiatives such as discount schemes also need to be considered. A good example is the chancellor's 'eat out for less' which is already working. This needs to be done urgently otherwise we will lose the West End.

I strongly support all action to support the 15-minute city. I've heard that 65% of car journeys are for 10 minutes or less. We need to make walking easy, pleasant, with safe segregated cycle lanes, to support more cycling (and not bother pedestrians), and remove cars from London.

Bold action - similar to banning smoking from indoors spaces - will feel impossible to many, but imagine a London without non-essential cars (exemptions for disability...). Quiet roads for cyclists and the occasional car, plus buses. Clean air. More greenery.

Delivery vehicles - why not offer an incentive to companies using cycling delivery over vehicle deliveries, where the object is small enough to do so (e.g. food, small items)?

Cars is as unhealthy as smoking. There ARE alternatives. Yes, some people love cars, but 'freedom' shouldn't include the 'freedom to pollute' others, particularly because the people most harmed by toxic air are the most vulnerable populations, including BAME individuals.

Strong support from me for all and every change which facilitates the change to a car-free city.

I know drivers who are calling out for change, some drivers themselves want better provision of public transport to allow them to get out of their cars and safely onto bikes etc.

-I wonder if local areas are now seeming more insular/un-mindful of colleagues, & potential schemes, in our suburban localities... -More local, & down-scaled approaches might be very good, as a direction, but might a 'local hubs' approach not also see that it could result in local initiators  becoming part of a wider 'set of franchises' approach to new initiatives going forward...? -And I've seldom found those engaged in things I also aspire to pursuing are based that locally to me. So the whole concept might still need to show its vast value to me, before I'm sure...

Independent shops should attract lower or 0 rates to incentivise their opening and support their trade. Local car transit tax could be used to subsidise deliveries to specific registered groups like disabled people. An effort should be made to attract older trades that would help with reducing the throw-away economy: I'm thinking cobblers, carpenters, small DIY supplies shops...

There are several issues with this plan 

1 for people to shop not using cars they must be able to carry all their shopping around with them as they go - those with children, the disabled are punished; if coffee shops restaurants want to make money they need people there long enough to need them.  If suitable secure stores say in disused shops linked to a reasonably priced delivery service that would help.

2 high streets that are simply clone streets where retailers have a web presence the people who do go do so only to look not buy. More specific local & specialist shops could be encouraged by low rent & rates.

3 by aiming for all shopping to be done via walking or cycling again is not feasible for disabled, those with children etc. Personal transport has its place so if electric cars got reduced parking - all parking got cheaper the longer you'd stay that would encourage longer term shopping - lots bought on one trip - much greener.

As a pedestrian, I shudder slightly at the emphasis on cycling. I compete for pavement space with parked vehicles, motorised scooters, mobility scooters and, most of all in the high street, bicycles weaving amongst us. By all means, encourage bike use - but ensure pavements can be safe walking areas. 

Far more greenery in high streets needed to make it pleasant to visit. With open spaces like market squares and outdoor dining and rest areas suitable for elderly people. The spaces should be the draw and people will enjoy being there and then the shops will benefit.

It is essential to focus on businesses and services other than retail. The pandemic has just accelerated the inevitable process of retail switching to online and "destination" shopping centres. 

The Low Traffic Networks (LTNs) in Lambeth already seem to be supporting this aim - I'm really impressed with the impact so far and the difference of having more community space and fewer cars - more of these!