Shaping London’s economic future

Business growth in London is being severely hampered by the increasing difficulties in driving around the city. Every year more and more road space is taken away and parking spaces reduced. For example, Haverstock Hill in Belsize Park, where many shops, restaurants and services have closed down since the removal of all the parking spaces in order to install bike lanes. Even taxis can't stop because of the posts. This is not only a nightmare for local residents, but very bad for local  businesses. 

Please remember that not everyone can a ride a bike or walk to their destination. 

The future in London is not a promising one.

The Central line is vile. We don't have the wait times that we had earlier in the year but it is an uncomfortable ride. 

Driving is London is extremely stressful due the amount of road closures and road works.

The amount of building is insane. Thousands of flats are being built and sold to buyers overseas yet we have a housing crisis.

How do you see your future in the capital? What do you need to thrive?  

I have lived and mostly worked in London since 1986. As I get older (now 57), I find myself pondering leaving the capital for a more relaxed pace of life, less people and a bit more greenery. I know though, that if/when I leave, very few come back. If a life changing momentus decision to take. 

I have run my own consultancy, training and research business for 22 years as a sole trader. I sub-contract associates to codeliver on big contracts from time to time. Every 5 years I have retrained to keep my skills, expertise and interests fresh. Over the last 18 months it seems harder to make ends meet and I have struggled financially to meet my outgoings. Not what I expected as I move closer to 60! I seem to have to work more to break even, although having a big mortgage doesn't help. I suddenly find myself asset rich and income poorer. It is tainting my joy for London which is sad. 

If I sold the house and leave town I could be mortage free, have a nice house in a county of my choice and add to my pension pot. Many of my friends and work associates have already retired and in a fewcases died, making it harder to collabrate on contracts with trusted people. 

Caring my an eldery mum in the midlands, an older partner with long term health conditions and starting to experience health issues myself, the factors at play in a decision about my future work/life balance, home and friendships. 

South Lambeth does not have a high street, so loses out on a focal point. Since Nine Elms was redeveloped I see that area as my high street now and enjoy the mix of new shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment options.  

Successful economic growth would include longterm investment in those people currently excluded from the labour market due to disability, health conditions, skills/interests with less market value, or a patchy/non-existant employment history. We are missing local talent by failing to develop our people.  

Accommodation costs like rents are still far too high, and becoming unsustainable. Transport costs are also extremely high, why can't we subsidize transport like other major cities around the world?

But overall London is still a great place to live, if you stay in all day and avoid going out. Every time you go out you end up spending at least £25, even if you don't do anything. Amazing fact, but true! :)

I live in a bubble - I've been working for the same company for 17+ years and mortgage paid off and just living alone quietly without any family, trying to save as much of my small admin salary as possible for my retirement. I have a sad little loner life but I recognise even this is a fortunate position when I see the dire situation in the real world. People seem desperate for jobs. How do people survive now with such extortionate rents?? I could not afford to rent the same 1 BR flat I rented back in 2009 now, it's more than my salary!!! Obviously all greater Londoners should be on a living wage, not minimum wage but even before that there should be drastic changes to the residential property market. E.g. Limit on landlord property ownership to 1 per person, stop foreign investors buying residential properties for sole purpose of renting, banish mortgages for landlords, stop businesses buying residential accommodation. Profiting from rentals should be banned. LISA thresholds increased. There is so much change that could happen, why won't they? Because the elite rich will not profit from the poor if they do that.

Sorry, going back to my high street, it has everything I need (I miss Wilko's though), excellent public transport (Lizzie line), excellent diversity (depending on your perspective) but has become Extremely overcrowded in 10 years. It's more dangerous with children with knives and no visible police. I wouldn't dare to go in after dark unless I was with other people.

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• What do you like most or least about your local high street, and why? 

The never ending stream of cars as they rush down from the A200 on their way elsewhere, smack down through a conservation area with way more tourists and pedestrians than the narrow pavements can handle. 

Also, chauffeur driven luxury cars mounting pedestrian areas with impunity. 

Brexit is a big issue for the city of London where i work. 20 to 30 years ago you could get a job with decent qualifications and work your way up, it’s much harder for youngsters these days.

At a local level, the environment of the high street is so important and unfortunately, Morden’s is full of traffic. I avoid the area unless absolutely necessary and certainly do not take my kids there. I understand there are limited funds available for council’s to try and improve things so I’m not sure what the answer is.

I’m reluctantly pessimistic for the future and hope I’m wrong as London is a great city. Creating opportunities for youngsters who want to work hard should be a priority for the council, after all they are the future of the city.

• How do you see your future in the capital? What do you need to thrive?                                                    I am already the future, I empower people to create a culture of self-sufficiency through skills training, counselling, advice and advocacy. I have strong belief that people, given the opportunity and resources, can thrive and be interdependent, contributing positively to better the capital, now and tomorrow.

• What do you like most or least about your local high street, and why?                                                      I like my local high street because it is really local, people know each other and are protective of one another. The snag about that is that no one wants to pay for the service they need, due to familiar relationships. I do not like is that the real businesses, only three of them on my local street, are family businesses by non-locals. They do not employ any local resident and their sales are very expensive, so they come and cash-in on us.

   

• What does a good job or good place to work look like to you?                                                                   A good job/ good place to work is one in which the worker is happy to be, and salary/wages can pay for their livelihood and have some savings for holiday or family enjoyment without getting into debt.

   

• What does successful economic growth look like to you? What would make you feel like you’re benefitting from it too?                                                                                                                           Successful economic growth is innovation with adequate resources, operated by good governance, and resulting in shared wealth and public benefits.

London is a playground for the rich and survival for the rest.

We need less estate agents, less chains, more independent business, more incentives to small business owners, less business rates, less junk food 'restaurants' (ie. fried chicken and similar junk), less betting shops.

Jobs in London don't match the absurd high prices. And trains are a joke, great for the owners, terrible for passengers. 

Also, toilets, we need more public toilets, London Bridge station is ridiculous, after a major redesign they favoured more shops than toilets. 

ULEZ and CC are exaggerated. Cycle paths are great but poorly planned. 

And generally speaking London doesn't feel safe.

We need significantly higher housing density in the first 3 zones of London. There shouldn't be 2/3 storey buildings in the central part of a city with 10million+ people in it. Maybe worth considering minimum density requirements for all new builds and rebuilds in the central part of the city.

We should be considering a land tax on the unimproved value of land to encourage more efficient land use. 

Council tax should be levied on 2024 property values, not on values from decades ago. 

Public toilets and water bottle refill stations should be available at every tube station, or somewhere very nearby.

Wireless phone chargers should be installed into seats at tube stations, bus stations and stops etc. so that people can charge their phone for urgent situations.

We should give priority to locally owned and or independent business over multinational and venture capital back chains in high street stores.

I really worry for the future of London's economy if the huge cost of housing for average Londoners cannot be addressed, particularly in the rental sector - it will force many more into WFH roles in outer London or beyond, which would decimate other borough's/central London's high streets and put those councils under financial pressure with increased demand for services (which we're already seeing the effects of). 
I will soon have to leave my zone 2-3 borough, and potentially London as a whole, because I can no longer afford to rent a small flat - and I work for a major public sector company on a mid-level salary. The situation for lower paid workers is undoubtedly even worse. 
However, the average price for a 1 bedroom rental is £1600-1800 in my borough which is unsustainable without being in a couple, and several of my friends even relocated to European capital cities because the rent is cheaper and they get paid more. 
This is a shame as my local high street is safe and clean, has a variety of shops including many local and small businesses and I visit it several times a week. However it's not hard to see the impact high rent is having on local high streets and communities, for example on Clapham High Street, which is being gutted and replaced with a glut of homogenous fast food chains - with the excuse that it's a going-out hotspot (it always has been, but there was no need for 10 burger restaurants 10 years ago and I doubt demand has significantly changed). 
It means it's dirty and attracts ASB, lacks a community feel, and has no variety of 'daytime' services (e.g. post office), shops or restaurants any more. 
If fewer local people can afford to live close to the high street now, the whole neighbourhood suffers. Hopefully this can be addressed by adequate pay, considered & strategic planning decisions, and wider measures to address spiralling rent London-wide or nationally - before it's too late.

Hi,

I'm from hanwell a place i love and call home, but it does have its issues. Please make the high street better,its tired and doesn't look inviting. Re vamp the shops,varie them. make it more inviting. I mean we have large quantity of million pound houses in golden Manor and around,would they come here,no, id saye defeintly not. 

 And the drunks and addicts.  they sit and drink on our high street all day, it's AWFUL. I thought it was ilegal to drink on our streets!!! But they sit on the main road blocking where we walk. And they don't get moved. It looks so bad ,please please can you do something about this big problem. I

I am underwhelmed by the questions in the survey, it feels as if you want to skew results. No option given for running a company and an employers perspective. Very little opportunity to feedback about how bad the roads are and the damage LTN's have done to much of London. I'm guessing from the questions you want people to spend more time within "15 minutes" of where they live.

Honestly, London is so massive you can make money here if you want to but I have very little faith in TFL or the Mayor - pandering to one generation and economic strata for votes and neglecting business owners is a theme.  

London is a cess pit of suffering and violence. I hate it here 

What I like least is the dirt and collapse of a quality shopping area.  I put some of this (quality shopping environment) down to stupid decision making via government and councils that are creating traffic from non-used cycle lanes and ridiculous LTNs, which discourage people from making the journey to kingston, so will buy on line instead.  Bus lanes were brilliant.  They carried thousands of people more quickly from A to B.  They now are cycle lanes ( which in town I agree with) but where you see the odd user out of town, how can this be better than a bus lane?  There is no joined up thinking to good, non pollution traffic management.  ULEZ is a tax not managing traffic flow.  Coupling this with the sale of car parks to create more housing, you are just killing local community shopping areas.  
The dirt is just collapse of local services.  With one of the highest council taxes in the UK our streets are filthy.  Every day it reminds me of the bin worker strikes of the 70s with crap everywhere.  We are a disgrace.  
I don’t believe a housing crisis exists.  If all the unused houses/flats and Airbnbs were used as real homes, everyone would have a home.  The government and councils just want more building, as building creates wealth.  The decisions are again ruining environments.  Let’s be honest our biggest contributor to climate change is more people and that is all you seem to want.  There seems an absolute non existence of growing services to match population growth.  Services are getting smaller while population grows.  It’s a disaster.  I really see no positives at the moment.  We are on the road to utter chaos and destruction.  

It should NOT be an obejective to just grow London's economy. It should be an objective to grow London's economy PER CAPITA.

There should be a measure of economy per capita and at least one index of equality/inequality published.  

As a driver, I have become totally disillusioned and frustrated with how Ealing has become the aggressor towards us. 
However, I am even more frustrated to experience how little Ealing council cares for pedestrians. 
I have been using Public Transport and my own feet for the last 8 months. 
To say I have been appalled is an understatement. 
The never-ending  schemes cause  traffic congestion, exacerbated  by, road ‘works’- ie no work being done-and the amount of time - currently not even stated - this disgraceful inconvenience is imposed on the community, is unacceptable. 
The current farce at the junction of Broadmead Road and Ruislip Road is not only an outrageous inconvenience affecting car drivers and bus users, but is a dreadful danger to pedestrians. 
As an able-bodied person, I have had to take my life in my hands trying to cross the road to catch the E6  bus towards Bulls Bridge. 
The three way temporary lights are  impossible. 
Danger 1: the  ‘pedestrian’ crossing is not actually a working one. Pedestrians must rush across once they see one of the lines moving. Because there is no safe time or place to cross. 
Danger 2: the lights have broken down in my personal experience) three separate times. You cannot possibly believe this is ok. 
Imagine the chaos. As a driver, as a bus user or as a pedestrian. 
Danger 3: On two occasions, the ‘work’ going on has caused extreme flooding due to some water/pipe issue.
The bus services of course are affected by ridiculously unacceptable traffic jams generated; journeys cannot be planned. 
Danger number 4) 

Once you realise that the bus due to arrive 15 minutes ago ( acc to TFL app) is  obviously not coming,you start walking, and realise the pavements also prove to be dangerous due to overgrown trees and  bushes, neglected, unrepaired  pathways. 
I have tripped, been scratched, and jostled into the road.

Think : parents with children/buggies

Disabled people

Wheelchair users. 
Elderly/infirm. 
Have you no care for any Ealing residents?