Wellbeing and Sustainability Measure for London

Air quality in London is very poor. More affordable and reliable public transport is important.
Many shops in local communities never re-opened following the pandemic. Business rates are too high. This leaves vulnerable members unable to access local services

I have spent all of my life living in London apart from the first eight years of my married life when my wife and I lived in Dartford. Of my almost fifty years of employment in Financial Services before retiring in 2010, I spent some thirty years working in Central London and its surrounds. Much has changed and not all of it for the better but the one area which counts most is that "action speaks louder than words!"

Sustainability - air quality and reasonably low noise levels : Why has it been so easy for developers to turn no longer viable underground car parks into offices or event venues, when surely they should be used to provide charging points for private and commercial vehicles?

The targets set for Road Transport vehicles to convert to being capable of carbon free at the exhaust are far too limp - and it should not be as weak as having the capability. There is nothing to guarantee that drivers will run cleanly in residential or mixed areas. The deliveries industry has had years and years to get going with technology and vehicle conversions, and it made the choice to waste those years on instead trying to lobby their way out of taking action.
If Wellbeing and Sustainability are serious aims, this is just one of the areas of GLA & London Mayor policy that needs tightening & speeding up.

If you want Wellbeing and Sustainability, you need to stop the bus cuts, somehow. I know these are due to national government refusing to properly subsidise travel in London - unlike in other developed countries. But these cuts will result in children having to take two or three buses to school, or having to be driven there instead, elderly and other less-able people who cannot use the underground will be put in the same situation with regard to getting to hospital and clinic appointments, or visiting friends & family. The NHS and local health services have been cutting costs by siting specialist clinics in fewer locations, closing down local clinics, so people have to travel much further to reach them. It is not sustainable, for example, to make elderly people, who tire so much more easily, take three instead of two buses to get to a clinic for treatment, and it certainly damages their wellbeing. Not everyone can use Patient Transport - this is something that is ignored by decision-makers. Car use will be driven up, and as the GLA's definition of sustainability has not yet brought into being a core network of super-charging-points, it will be diesel and petrol car use that will increase as a result of bus route cuts.

The London Plan has policies that do not support wellbeing and sustainability, and there must be some that work against instead of being neutral or being in support. These values need to be integrated throughout the plan more than they currently are. And how about a shift of perspective from the heavy focus on the centre, that has led to it becoming utterly unsustainable with residents' wellbeing and health sacrificed for the over-development of commercial interests? Time for for real change, redistribution of tourism, workplaces, leisure and eateries businesses to newly redesigned local 'town centres' throughout London.

I do think community is important. During the austerity years a lot of day centres and lunch clubs etc were closed down. People who are isolated are prone to ill health and dementia. So more community projects would be very welcome. The other important thing, noted by several people, is the environment. Clean air targets matter. And please stop cutting down or drastically cutting back mature trees – they provide massively valuable shade and fresh air and habitat. Look after the trees we have, and plant more. Without all those wonderful London planes planted by the Victorians and Edwardians we would be in much worse state, so please value them more.

You need to take account that a lot of different communities make up London - one size does not fit all. People want to live in the suburbs because of better homes, more green space, better schools, etc. but the suburbs tend to have poorer public transport services. What you want depends on the area you live in, your age, occupation and whether people stay for a long time in your area or move on. There are lots of different villages and communities in London and they are not all the same, some vary widely.

I can't see how the Mayor's new £2.2bn Silvertown Motorway Tunnel is going to tackle any of these issues. It'll make things a lot worse.

Those who contribute more at work, mentally, will earn more. Not all have the mental capability to earn more. Therefore they will earn less. So long as the less earn sufficient to pay for their housing and welfare needs that is all right.