A Green New Deal

Please can local councils stop using weedkiller! Let's grow wildflowers in tree pits, allow street plants to flourish and turn grass monocultures into meadows. 

I think community compost bins would be an excellent thing. 

We need to entice people away from cars and onto improved public transport, bicycles and their own two feet. And we need more trees, and the right trees for any given place.

There needs to be massive investment in electric car charging units on London streets.  Basically there is nowhere for anyone to charge an electric car in London unless they have their own front drives or garages which is quite rare.  London needs at least 1,000,000 of these - it will take time but would employ lots of people to install them which will create jobs whilst putting us in a position to start reducing our use of petrol and diesel cars and so reduce London pollution. I drive a petrol car and would like to move to electric, but there is nowhere to charge them in my neighbourhood.   

I also agree with the comment above about the need for greater investment in lockable cycle racks in London to encourage more cycle commenting. 

Finally, there are some pavement widening initiatives apparently in aid of social distancing.  These initiatives appear to be a total waste of resources and should cease immediately.

Thanks to RAS202 for your comment. With regard to your point about locally produced food being too expensive, I would contend that if this is the case then the system will have failed completely. We need to consider that the supermarkets generate huge profits and pay dividends to their shareholders who are often foreign banks and investment funds and this comes from what we pay for food.  Also the transport of food over long distances and storage in warehouses is very costly.  Surely we can do better than that !

Great mission objectives, and reassuring that parts of our community recognise some of the values gained by the lockdown. Greater guidance and help in taking advantage of the government's newly announced Green Homes Grant would help people move away from their current heating sources, such as gas central heating. More charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, especially to take advantage of solar panel generation, would be helpful. My borough has rejected this option at present.

I live in tooting and am overjoyed with the planned road modal filters planned. I live in a rat run and found one of the benefits of lockdown was the lack of cars, reduction of noise and pollution on my road. I loved being able to walk along and cross the roads safely. My joyous response to reclaiming my road and peace from cars knows no bounds! Thank you to our Mayor for listening to residents and enabling a greener Neighbourhiid. More closures please 

I cycle often,   and would cycle a lot more if there was more secure cycle parking available.   Theft is common,   and finding a SAFE place for a bike is getting harder as cycling increases.  My nearest large supermarket has closed the cycle spaces  that are under cover and within sight of a security guard and now there are only 6  stands (enough for 12 bikes)   and a car park big enough for several hundred cars.   (Sainsbury's in Merton High Street) .   At 8 30 am   many of the cycle parking places in Wimbledon are full , as are places in Morden . 

Separately from scaling up the green economy, this pandemic has provided a valuable opportunity by forcing us to scale down carbon-intensive industries. We have seen, by necessity, a vast reduction in travel across the city and negative consumption patterns that are forced on people by long-hours and heavy commuting. At the same time, this has been accompanied by an increase in people utilising their hyper-local economies, as well as having the time to make environmentally positive decisions such as cooking from raw ingredients, purchasing less packaging, growing food, travelling by foot and by bike, consuming less energy in vast glass office buildings.

While these benefits have not been conferred on everyone, it is vital that we recognise them as benefits and hold on to these changes. Where we encourage new industry, it should be on these terms, in this framework. Most importantly, we should not rush people back into the city, but facilitate them in maintaining the lifestyles and choices allowed by this crisis.

Sole emphasis on growth misses the point that we want to divert resources from carbon-intensive industries to green ones; we want to encourage positive behaviours over negative ones necessitated by an intense work-consumption cycle. Overall growth of the economy is not necessarily positive and likely very damaging -  there must be narratives of maintenance, restoration and sometimes reduction. Short journies are inherently easier to take on bike or foot. Free time allows us be less wasteful and engage in our communities.

I so agree with this statement, but it is not what is happening in North West London. High rise blocks of flats are going up everywhere, in areas that were already so densely populated that the noise and smells drive us mad - flats blocking sunlight and trees from view, ruining the peaceful canal walk, stealing green spaces.

The flats that block our sunlight also reflect back the noise of passing trains, so we get twice as much noise as we did from the flats they replaced, which were slightly further back and slightly lower, reasonably priced and which the occupants liked. Most of the new ones have been unoccupied since they were built, because they are too expensive.

The tower blocks have no garage space but a lot of people have cars, so we have more traffic jams, because there is so much on-street parking. The 182 bus is unreliable, but you refuse to help extend the 18 bus route from Sudbury Town to the hospital, which costs us a lot of money, either in taxis or car parking, and leaves 18s garaged on the road in the shopping area, idle and in the way. You are trying to build on the car park at Sudbury Town tube station, with its invaluable disabled parking spaces.

As more people work from home, look at good quality conversion of office blocks in central London into homes for essential workers. Requisition the empty blocks of flats from the oligarchs.

What about more and better green public transport? Electric community buses to, and funded by, shopping and entertainment and leisure centres?

What do you think of this mission? I wholeheartedly support the mission, although I believe the long term goal of becoming a zero pollution city by 2030 is extremely ambitious. 

Is there anything critical to London’s recovery missing from this mission? Any plan of this nature should be 'SMART' (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound). From the high-level summary shown, this has not been adequately detailed. I believe that the example given for an area of potential focus of 'developing safe, connected cycling and walking routes' may not be the most effective way to support the short, medium and long term goals. At the moment, owning and parking a fossil fuel car is relatively cheap. It is easy to find places to park (for free, or very cheap). Cycling and walking is not convenient for many activities, such as doing the weekly shop.

What does this mean for you personally and your community?  It means less pollution impacting me and my family. It means feeling proud of my city for decarbonising. It means being a world-leader. 

What actions or interventions would have the most impact? Data-driven responses and choices are key to maximum success. Experts such as the APSE or UK:100 should be consulted. https://www.apse.org.uk/apse/index.cfm/local-authority-energy-collabora…

How will we know that we’ve succeeded? CO2 and particulate emissions from transport and heating dropping. Number of gas boilers going down. Energy efficiency improvements reducing bills, comfort, and fuel poverty. Improvements across commercial and domestic buildings.

Who has a role to play to meet this challenge? Everyone has a role to play. Central government, local government, organisations (especially utility companies, manufacturers and installers), individuals. 

These are very laudable aims but there are obviously big challenges.  Probably the largest and certainly the most immediate is to restore confidence in public transport as a safe way to travel.  Without that the other objectives will be largely unachievable.  This therefore needs to be the absolute priority.  More evidence should be obtained about the effectiveness of current measures to make public transport safe and to discover what the maximum safe density of passengers is, in the hope of increasing usable capacity significantly and persuading people to use it.  There probably needs to be urgent research into the effectiveness of different types of face covering and the best types promoted - perhaps a certification process for those that meet a high standard.  Guidance needs to be firm and clear - there is no room for muddle and confusion if we are to overcome the obstacles we face before it is too late.

I am a London car owner and driver. I am also a pedestrian and an occasional cyclist and, prior to the pandemic, I was a daily user of public transport.

I am also someone who has health issues that are endangered by air pollution.

We need to adjust priorities so driving by private citizens inside London is seen as a privilege and an occasional luxury, not as a right. That means increasing deterrent taxation to pressurise all able-bodied Londoners to walk and cycle. It means restricting traffic by creating permanent widened pedestrian pavements, shared pedestrian-cycle areas where it is safe and segregated cycle lanes. It means banning private car traffic entirely in wide areas of central London.

These changes would inconvenience me and other drivers considerably. That's tough. We won't adjust unless we are compelled to adjust, because driving is just too convenient. Nevertheless, like the smoking ban in pubs, once we have adjusted, the idea everyone had a right to drive anywhere and for any purpose without charge will seem like a strange old custom.

We also need to legalise scooters as soon as possible, so people who cannot cycle can take advantage of the new lanes and shared areas.

Not all car drivers are selfish anti-cycling bigots. The ones who are are on the wrong side of history.

Put down roads that produce energy every time a car goes over it and more charging points 

- Help fund genuine green business initiatives that help change consumer habits eg repair shops, upcycling, swapping clothes, library of things or that develop new sustainable alternatives / solutions. They should become commonplace. 

- work with other authorities (council, dept of education) to make growing food in schools, rewilding, climate change mitigation, and conservation a core part of the curriculum 

- rewild (let grow naturally) areas of London.

- find tree planting initiatives and encourage communities to become involved 

You're destroying London. The debate has become hysterical. Pollution has been constantly coming down over the years as cars have become greener. The cycle lanes do not and never will have enough users to justify the expense and the cost to all the other road users who rely on the free movement of traffic for their living and it's not just taxi drivers either. At the very most you''l get barely 10% cyclists and then only on certain roads and in certain weather conditions. This winter we'll see the catastrophic results of your virtue signaling, micro managing initiatives. You're letting a very small minority of belligerent cyclists call the shots. You're very lucky that their isn't really a motorists lobby.

 It's a disgrace.

I have found a lovely cycle route from Walthamstow to Swiss Cottage that I will now be cycling for my daily commute but crossing large roads for example Holloway Road is still difficult; traffic lights to help pedestrians and cyclist to cross would be beneficial. Closing traffic so they can't cut through makes the ride feel a lot safer. I have found the 'Holland' investment made in Walthamstow beneficial and it would be nice to see other boroughs do the same. Continue to develop more cycle routes... I'm still surprised how quickly you can travel across London using a bike!! 

Still lots of rubbish is dropped. In Germany, I think you get money back if you return bottles and cans.... Be nice to try that here. 

More water fountains would be great to reduce bottled water consumption.

More cameras to capture fly tipping and rewards for general public who help with this process.

More live walls.... Seeing walls covered in plants is so calming and beautiful.

Through schools, more outside environmental lessons should be provided to encourage children to interact and understand their environment.

Encourage the whole city  to work together to clean up specific areas across London. I know this happens now but we have to search of how we can volunteer.... More advertising is required. Perhaps it could happen on one or two specific days of the year. Too much rubbish is left on road sides or in canals. 

Encourage businesses and households (I include myself) to collect more rainwater.

LTN's are a great way to reduce traffic and in time more people will seek out alternative transport methods and routes. 
New developments, offices and homes should be built using sustainable methods and include solar panels and other alternative energy supplies. 
All developers should be prevented from cutting down healthy mature trees and they should be included in designs. 
All schools across London should become school streets, preventing non essential car journeys, and controlled parking zones should be introduced so that pavement parking becomes a thing of the past.