Shaping London’s economic future

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? 

Thanks for this survey, like many my main struggle is the cost of living. 

Despite working multiple jobs, my rent and travel costs take up 80 to 90 percent of my income per month leaving me with nothing to be social with and having to be very careful with bills and food costs.

I think London is particularly hard for single adults like me who have no-one to split costs with, Council tax is a huge strain.

I would love for travel to be made more affordable and businesses being held to account more. One company I work for is based in zone 1 and makes massive profits, but doesn't pay us anywhere close to London living wage.

I think some regulation around businesses based in very expensive areas with high turnover paying a certain rate to staff would be a huge positive change.

Oh dear, just read through a good part of this thread. Not many positive points here.  So here's a shout out to the cultural life of London, the beauty of so much of the city, the diversity across all of our boroughs, ethnic, age, etc, the buzziness of places like the Southbank  - that's why I live here in spite of the problems.   So though I agree with so many of the complaints, cost of housing v wages, too many boarded up shops and the street crime, lets all agree restoring the glory of London is worth fighting for.  When you've digested these responses City Hall, how about seeking some ideas for community responses, so we can play our part in solving at least some of the problems.  

It feels like street crime has got worse. I'm scared to use my phone in the street , and worried about young relatives getting killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This has got worse over the last 10 years.  This must put companies off investing in London.  And too many parts of inner London sorely lacking trees and greenery - bad for the people, bad for the environment. 

I’m still quite young and London has got perceptibly worse in my lifetime.

Crime, lack of job opportunities for people starting their career, cost of living, housing prices, social atomisation. I feel like everything is forcing non-homeowners out of the city.

I’m fortunate enough to have a STEM background and I am seriously considering emigration. I don’t feel like I can have a successful or fulfilling life and career in London or Britain more broadly anymore.

Ealing Council has No Heart or Soul it Robs Motorists with its Stealth Cameras and Has Zero Customer Service.       DPJ777.

It is hard to define a ‘London Economy’ as it is made up of so many smaller subsections. Most people stay in their own towns and local areas, occasionally venturing “Up West” or to somewhere like a Westfield. Central London is full of small enclaves catering to particular groups and the main streets eg Oxford Street have almost become no go areas for locals. I go into London 4-5 times a week to visit the theatre, ballet, museums, restaurants and parks as I believe there is no point living here if you don’t avail yourself of the world class facilities. However, my children have grown up, I have free travel and my mortgage is paid off so I am in a privileged position. My four adult children (25-32; degrees from Russel Group unis; well paid), find living and working in London very expensive and in one way or another are supported by their parents to do so. I do not come from generational wealth and have done well in London, where I was born, but it’s not easy to live here, despite its many advantages and opportunities. The rapid rise in population has also made everything so much harder and the lack of listening and “reading the room” by local and national politicians and the pandemic and Brexit aftermaths have created a sense of ennui that is hard to shake off, especially in the young. The attitude I come across is, “l’ll never be able to…” and “…it’s alright for you…” To my mind, Optimism is at an all time low and the city feels in a low mood. It’s dirty, over-crowded, we’re losing the sky with all the towers being built (most of which don’t address the housing needs), the cost of living here has rocketed - it’s a hard city to be in right now and middle income Londoners are bracing themselves for the national government’s tax increases, which hit London earners harder, as we are paid more, yet it takes no account of the high cost of living. London weighting may as well not exist. London is a very divided city, it's currently hard to move up in the world living here.

I have spent most of my life in London, and as a young man loved it. Thought i would live here for the rest of my life

Now i hate it and do not want to live or work in it any more.

It has no life or soule anymore and no sense of community. 

I worry about my children going out with the rising crime. Due to the lack of decent police, there recruitment is more about how many languages they speak rather than them being fit for purpose. HAve no respect for there lack of action wasting time guarding the mayor, who is a wast of space and skin, and iintent on destroying London.

Ulez has caused my family and work a lot of money for nothing, it has also stopped several exibitions taking place.

My local high street is dead.

as for all the crap flats and lack of propper family housing. Planning is obviously corrupt. 

Pre and Post Covid the worst impact upon London as a city has been the parochialism. I'm born and raised and still live in Hackney but the borough and the wider city is suffering because of entitlement from those who've priced out and social cleansed the borough and the city. I feel like the place I'm from lost its soul through gentrification and an influx of entitlement. 

Affording to live in London is increasingly difficult, rents and house prices represent a ludicrous percentage of income for most that the city is something that con only be enjoyed with great restraint

Wages and inflation need a complete overhaul 

I have lived in Ealing since 1985 and have seen the deterioration of the borough over the years. Our streets and pavements are constantly being dug up for various reasons causing disruption in travel around Ealing and the pavements are uneven resulting in us falling and slipping on the leaves which aren’t swept away in autumn. The passageway between south and north road which leads to my flat is used as a dumping ground and open toilet by the council tenants/housing association leaseholders and is very dangerous for us to walk in especially in winter and when it rains. Ealing council refuses to take any action in improving the situation and expect us to deal with it all. It is disgusting for us to come home at night and see them weeing on our gates and walls and our wheely bins robbed and their rubbish scattered on the pavement outside our passageway. Despite repeated complaints made to the council, they don’t take any action against their tenants who are the perpetrators and harass us in this way.