Shaping London’s economic future

Publicity for this survey has been abysmal. I am on the London Planning mailing lists and a member of the GLAE London Economy Round Table and neither told me about this. Nor was the Just Space network of community groups asked to spread the word.  

In my opinion you should extend the deadline and mojnt a big campaign to multiply responses by at least a factor of 10 !

Michael Edwards 15 September (your last day)

The only thing the government in London (and UK as a whole) seem to want more of is financial services. A handful of ridiculously overpaid people in their towers of glass looking down upon everyone else struggling to get ends meet. 

Building a million more cramped flats and earmarking 10% of those as affordable housing while 90% is snapped up by investors is hardly helping.

Hordes of despondent young people running around with zombie knives hardly inspires confidence to invest, work or live in London.

London can grow only when people find jobs across all sectors, get paid enough in those jobs, and can find an affordable place to live without having to commute for hours. 

Diversify the London economy, build truly affordable rentals (this home owner narrative needs to be buried) and create meaning opportunities for young people to keep them away from crime. London will thrive once again.

Streets are dirty and the roundabouts use to have nice flower arrangements. Spend money on making the parks and streets cleaner and nicer. Stop closing off roads it causes traffic jams on main arteries. Have more free parking near shops and coffee shops to encourage use. Make Ealing beautiful by setting up community groups to grow and look after trees and flowers. Ealing in bloom would be a good slogan

1. The learning opportunities offered by council is not flexible ie only cater for those with little language skill. Suggest to spread the fund to cover a wider spectrum of people eg intermediate english level (not everyone needs to start from zero)
2. There are lots of jobs opportunities. But applications are usually rejected automatically by robot. Hope more human efforts be put in job screening
3. Enquiry system for HRMC, banks, utility shops etc are all automatic. Hope to have some manned counters to address specific issues
4. Most company reply emails so late eg 1 week’s time. This is very inefficient and will be losing competitiveness to other countries

The best thing about living/working in London is the transport compared to other parts of the country. I hope Labour doesnt remove the over 60s Oyster as this encourages older people to work, travel and spend money across London.

My local high street used to have a village/community feel to it but now it is slummy with shopkeepers' produce all over the pavements, people throwing litter and spitting, lack of respect/rudeness and a general feeling of decline which has little to do with cuts and more to do with the lack of standards and attitude of those who have moved into the area. I just want it to feel clean and safe and not just full of fast food joints and barbers! 

I'm not concerned about career as I've had one and I'm looking forward to retirement but I worry for my son who has a good job but cant afford to rent or buy in the area on his salary so he will continue to live at home as there is no social or affordable housing for him. I work for a small charity so there is job sattraction.

In my job I meet many people who their local authority is trying to upskill into employment but many of them do not have the basic skills, particularly communication skills, to gain decent employment.

London developed by integrating with europe and the world. 
After brexit that driver of progress and commerce was vastly reduced, in my technology field many of the employers moved to Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam etc.
The cost of a basic standard of living in London is pushing people away. 
London is becoming a meaner, poorer, and less diverse like the English themselves.
The culture, life experience and opportunities here are drying up, but that's what people voted for over and over again.

Perpetual austerity is a model for stagnation not growth, a little imagination is of course too much to ask.
 

Main drawbacks of London is lack of affordable rentals and ladnlords who want to throw you out with no reason.  We spend over 50% of our take-home pay just on rent which doesn't leave much tfor saving for a property or for other activities,  Our area is realtively safe and has good trasnport links.  Jobs for young people - too much gig economy and it seems very hard for graduagtes to get a 'graduate-level' job.  That said, there is a real shortage of people doing vocational training in areas such as plumbing, construction, electricians, plastering etc.  Not everyone needs a university degree or wants one, so those 'manual' trades' shoudlk be more valued.  There is a definitie lack of community where we live.  No one really seems to look out for their neighbours exc ept to complain.  It was very different in other capitals (e.g. Cardiff) where I have lived and worked.  I love London but it can be an alienating and expensive experience; for those who are earnng anything under £40,000 as a family it can be a real struggle just to get by.  

Road works start without notice. Ppl on buses and cars have a very hard time when there is no notice of road works. Surely the local council knows when these are started as the contractors give notice to them.i dont see any planning is done to tell the road users that works are due to start.once these start, no one is seen working, thus prolonging the havoc

Some common sense approach is missing here 

Traffic is a Mayor problem for local people, some roads are busy 24/7 and the locals get no let up. It's become a concrete area with underpassses to walk to shops, these can be very scary places so people drive more. We use to have lots of great companies in this area, and most have now left, very very worrying, why?  Companies use to look after their staff and most were local people. The streets don't feel safe and now I'm older and can't run as fast as I once could, that's worrying. A great community is whats needed, something for everyone. 

This survey is employment and business focussed. People do retire and stay living in London. Access and safe walking to and around local high street is important for a thriving local economy catering and inclusive to elderly who may be less mobile and who require safe pavements, road crossings and adequate bus services to get around without resorting to cars. We are not all able to ride a bike!

A member of our group used to love where they live. However since the elections residents have shown her who theavily really are 

Abuse from female Dog walkers

Vandalisation of her newly landscaped garden 

The MPA officers showing no duty of care or providing sanctuary for the ongoing attacks  

I make a small fortune working in London as a software engineer, but it doesn't really matter how much you earn. Either some family member dies and you get a lump sum of money or you live with benefits and get a home for free (with luck on a decent neighborhood). Otherwise you need to rent, where you are at the mercy of your landlord that will charge a small fortune if you live anywhere near a train or tube station. This for houses that are in an appalling state and 1000s are even being rented illegally due to a low EPC ranting.

The data to see what homes are being rented illegally is public and online. I even made a study on it that can be seen here: https://github.com/josemrsantos/epc_analysis (in particular: .https://github.com/josemrsantos/epc_analysis/blob/cc3f1b4803590beba5f42ef458d028fee95711cb/A_brief_history_of_EPC.pdf). It's not rocket science, but if any council does not have the resources to fetch from a csv file all the houses that are being rented illegally, get in touch and I will provide that list, for free.

My suggestions:

 - Scrap the no fault evictions ASAP.

 - Create rent limits on how much landlords can charge or create taxes that grow exponentially with the rent value.

The only real reason why we are still in London is because of hospitals, but after Covid those have also became so much worse that at one point not even that will keep us in London.

1.Equity

Unfortunatly there are very  limited  opportunties for local residents to aquire quality paid employment. There is an influx of #HipsterGentrifiers set up institutions in urban localities, as this satifies Indices of poverty , whigh priorotises lucurative funding streams. This diminishes oopportunties for local residents.

2.High Streets

Can be quite toxic, upsurge of people stealing from shops.

Male staff challenging them,when it the stores Security job. This resulting in other shoppers being put in danger.It never ends well

I feel inequalities got much worse in the last 7 years despite all the actions are being taken to address this. We need to give opportunities for people living in deprived communities. Only by empowering them we can change the future. The progress of the economy can’t be detached to a fair community.

I have retired so I tend to keep active and avail of the entertainment and social gatherings in and around my area. I enjoy going out and about to meet people and socialise. London is a good place to join groups and enjoy ourselves as we grow older. 

My local high street is neglected and shops are closing all the time. Traffic is so horrendous that it sometimes takes me 15 to 20 minutes to get past the traffic lights at Greenford Broadway.

The local Ravenor Park is well used, as is Greenford Library, but the high street is not a place I would choose to shop in.

I am just waiting for my husband to retire so we can move somewhere more affordable, sell our house, buy a cheaper one and give our daughter a deposit for a house of her own.

I have worked all over London and had a fulfilling career. I would say London is good for variety of careers, transport to get to work, opportunities to work flexibly, and for its rich cultural, historical and artistic heritage.

I am lucky enough to have a confortable retirement, but I worry about young people's chances when it comes to living wage, rental opportunities and ability to buy their own houses. 

I haven't experienced violence myself, but I know people who have. There's a perception that violence is increasing.

Judging by my son-in-law's experiences, I'm pretty sure the Met Police continue to be as racist as ever, if not more racist than ever.

In order to improve London the following needs to improve:

1. Traffic flow - a lot of "road works" around, however it takes too long to resolve these works - work should be prioritised and actively pushed to completion - I notice a lot of works being unattended for large parts of the day/week;
2. Traffic flow - bin collection trucks / road sweeper trucks and other non essential services  should not be on the roads during peak times;
3. ULEZ should be fully enforced and the unintended consequences of non-compliant drivers taking unmonitored roads to avoid enforcement cameras should be stopped;
4. Low level petty crime should be addressed as a priority;
5. Cannabis use is also increasing crime and nuisance - this should be clamped down as a priority;
6. Ease of access to Crime Prevention officers should be widely marketed as an ease to report issues and act as a deterrent to those conducting crime;
7. Ease of access to primary health care is essential to address physical and mental health as this will ensure staff are able to get help easier and be more productive.     

Biased council hiring. Loads of new housing popping up but none for low income working people. Skilled jobs only if you know important people (in central london or "friends of the local authorities".

Rogue landlords, super absurd rents for 13sqm places, dangerous high roads, gambling or fast food joints only high rd. cost of living basic groceries to the roof. Mental health help inexistent or rubbish. Places to work out swim and improve quality of life in dangerous places or too expensive. Theatres, opera, movies all expensive. Survival mode gets its toll in anyone's mental health. Also some areas there are no buses. Anyway London has a lot of potential but only if you work for the companies that are destroying the planet, or speculating on land or sweat shops or even investment bubbles. 

Very simply we all have to ask ourselves where are jobs going to be created? London is clearly a world financial hub- that is not going to change. AI has the capacity to help humankind in any number of ways but ultimately is used to do away with so many jobs. Without jobs what do people do? We already import so much stuff that we do not need. I see the only way forward to have a circular economy where we repair things rather than create more landfill. And try to remember that the best things in life aren’t things!