Preparing London for extreme weather

Weather changes drastically now a day. More heatwave in summer and not so cold in winter as a result of global warming. Central government has a big role to play to tackle this climate issues besides Mayor of London and local boroughs. It will not wise to make ULEZ to penalise drivers only for carbon foot prints. It is everyone's responsibility to act for the environment by recycling, reuse and reinvent more. Fare for public transport need to be lower for low income family to access more which can help to emission less for the environment.

I fully support ULEZ, and the idea that the scheme is an extra tax through the fines is rubbish, if all vehicles complied then there would be no income. One can certainly smell a non-compliant vehicle as it passes.

I live in a block of 192 flats in three blocks which as lease holders had to raise over £3mil to reroof the 1935 buildings. Why could projects like ours could not be forced to incorporate solar panels, so easy to do, then saves for the future and reduces carbon.

The said blocks of flats has a communal hot water system but does not supply heating. Not a quarter of a mile away a regeneration scheme (CREST) is just starting which is said to be taking hot water from output from a local sewage farm. Why not extend the piping to estates as ours, tap into the oil fired boiler hot water system to give the estates, thus eliminating tons of oil being burnt constantly, cleaning air immediately without replacing individual flats hot water feeds. So many estates and large office blocks could benefit at little extra cost instead of just concentrating on social housing and local authority projects.    

While it is essential there is strategic and practical action at all levels to mitigate climate change, there is an equal and pressing imperative to take action to adapt and with a particular focus on places and communities most severely affected. This is a social justice issue, with groups such as older people, homeless people and minority ethnic groups (often living in poorer quality housing) experiencing the adverse effects of climate change more severely. Housing design requirements and regulation must reflect the need for ventilation in hot weather as well as insulation in cold, and this must be taken into account in estate retrofit and regeneration programmes. Business continuity planning should take climate change resilience into account, including essential infrastructure such as power and transport. Urban greening, from park design to streets and highways and the wider public realm has a dual role to play in mitigation and adaptation. Funding for this needs to be increased and longer term and must include maintenance costs. Community groups and individuals can play their part in green space stewardship, public outreach and messaging and provision of advice, support and refuge including peer advice e.g. https://climatelondon.org/cae/equinox_care. Public health has a key role to play in identifying priorities and informing healthcare provision. See also London's Changing Climate: In Sickness and in Health (LCCP 2011) and, for the role of local authorities: ARCC_SCIE_cross_sector_symposium_report_final.pdf (dur.ac.uk)

1. Educate the population: (our media doesn't)  both on urgency of action to prevent and also need for mitigation
2. Transport: Accelerate the de-motorisation of our city/Active travel: segregated bike lanes, take out all two-lane roads, LTNs, road-pricing + subsidised and extended public transport, tighten ULEZ asap, make Congestion zone 24hrs again, subsidise purchase of cargo-bikes for businesses/households, last-mile (or more) delivery hubs, bike parking everywhere, pollution & size based resident parking fees etc etc.
3. SUDS, green the grey, stop hard surfaces, lots of trees to reduce Urban Island Heat Effect,  incentivise households to create SUDS & take out paving in their homes (link to house insurance flood risk? get streets to create RAs that tackle flood risk per street to bring down their insurance premiums)
4. Buildings: - new build must be sustainable, energy efficient, insulated, SUDs, grey-water, solar etc etc. Existing buildings - INSULATE & help transition away from gas boilers to heat pumps & solar
5. Flood management: use nature. Create flood plains & bring back beavers
6. Emergency Planning for hurricane: run a London wide hurricane simulation involving all schools & workplaces.  This will help the population appreciate the very real danger of this occurring in the coming few years & will motivate households to action on all the above.

It is not clear how much of the climate change impacting the UK is real however despite any scepticism e.g. how many forest fires were either due to negligence or a deliberate act of arson. I would agree we need to manage how we pollute the atmosphere but without the countries generating the most atmospheric pollution e.g. India USA, China, Russia et al  making  material change there is little that the citizens of London or the UK can do that would contribute to any change that would prevent the UK from the effects of climatic change.

In addition I would like to see reports of countries who quite clearly and deliberately attempt to change the weather for their own benefit and the cascade effect it has on other regions/countries.

I think step one is to improve drains and waste water, sewage and all. The water company should have already done this! 

Step two: incentivise replacing paved areas with drainage tiles instead of impermeable materiel  (I know you can get recycled rubber tiles with holes in them for car parks and so on); these could be on private driveways ( to reduce runoff which will alleviate flooding).

Step 3: Continue planting shrubs, bushes, trees, scrub, wherever possible; replace groomed turf with meadow or prairies type planting, which needs less maintenance and is insect friendly; have log piles and dead hedges in public parks. 

I am fed up of counting, but I can think of loads of other measures, mostly small but collectively they would have a positive effect. However, maybe the easiest thing to do would be to start with a campaign on idling engines! These are already banned but they are not enforced and drivers can get surprisingly aggressive when asked to turn their engine off by passers by ( I have unfortunate personal experience of this). 

I am trying  to use renewal energy, I have invested in solar panels and battery storage to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, i have a hybrid car and use public transport when possible. I also maintain a green garden - not paving areas to enable good water drainage. I’d like to see building regulations change to ensure solar panels are always added to new homes and retrofitted to roof renewals. Some tax benefits could be helpful to encourage less paving over of green areas for parking. My maintenance of a green garden costs me more than my neighbours with paved gardens have to pay as I have to buy green waste services to remove garden waste, this is not a good incentive to encourage greening of areas. Can this be explored? 

My experience of using renewable energy installers is that the industry is still in its infancy, advice to home owners and understanding systems is really poor, we have to improve the  installation and after care for renewable energy systems.  Can the industry be given a boost to train people effectively to enable them to carry out installations for homeowners?

In a volunteer role I have tried to install solar panels on a community building, but as it’s in a conservation area it needs planning approval, this is not helpful and delays or prevents progress. The building is not listed, or particularly attractive. It’s very frustrating  when you are taking action to try and do our bit to reduce the impact of climate changes and it is hampered by bureaucracy. 

We must stop building close to rivers to allow for flood plains to be maintained. 

As China had produced as much CO2 in the last eight years as the U.K. had since the Industrial Revolution there is not much we can do. 
And it’s not really local governments job anyway. They need to concentrate on running public transport etc. 

I'm not so sure than banning births, noble as it is, will work as a strategy.

For me, a more realistic way forward would be for the government to listen to what Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion are saying and fund The Mayor of London to insulate homes right across the capital. It won't solve the climate crisis. But it would be a start.

Discourage hard paving of driveways, car parks. Allow rainwater to escape the surface by seeping into groundwater, rather than flooding.

Replace some street parking places with rain gardens.

Encourage green planting on all open and underused spaces. 

Plant trees for shade and cooling where ever there is room. And, having planted them, maintain them until they are robust enough to survive.

Incentivise home insulation to keep heat out in summer, warmth in in winter.

Ban (and police the ban) engine idling when vehicles are stationary.

Building codes revised to flood-proof low lying buildings. Even build on stilts if needed.

Building codes revised to incorporate shading of windows - no direct sunlight.

Discourage traffic, encourage active travel.

Care for your neighbour policies when extreme weather/climate events occur.

This is ridiculous. The cause of flash flooding is drains not being cleaned, so when needed they do not remove the excess rain. Climate change is not proven, and is being used to raise taxes and encroach on our freedoms. This must be stopped.  

 Last summer, temperatures rose above 40°C for the first time. Schools were closed, hospital operations were cancelled as systems crashed and wildfires caused the busiest day for the London Fire Brigade since the Second World War.   

And you can prove that this is a direct consequence of man-made climate change can you?

As an elderly (80) and disabled individual there is very little I can actively do to mitigate extreme weather outcomes.  What I would like to see is better integration of public services. One new alert service from the collaboration between the UK Health Security Agency and the Meteorological Office  is producing some excellent information, as in this recent early September heatwave email to citizens and businesses:  - Quote  Significant impacts are expected across the health and social care sector due to the high temperatures, including: observed increase in mortality across the population likely, particularly in the 65+ age group or those with health conditions, but impacts may also be seen in younger age groups; increased demand for remote health care services likely; internal temperatures in care settings (hospitals and care homes) may exceed recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment; impact on ability of services to be delivered due to heat effects on workforce possible and many indoor environments likely to be overheating, risk to vulnerable people living independently in community as well as in care settings; medicines management issues; staffing issues due to external factors (e.g. transport); cross system demand for temporary AC capacity being exceeded possible and other sectors starting to be observe impacts (e.g. travel delays).Unquote  But this needs to be coordinated with citizens’ GP practices which continue to ignore the plight of those living in top floor flats [no garden, no balcony] in narrow terraced house streets with no trees to avoid “oven” heat conditions.  

1. Ban burning  (except of waste for power)

  2. Have a population limit policy

  3. Stop all building: 

a)  nobody can build faster than millions can arrive

b) all existing building and planning  regulations ignore climate extremes

Here's an idea: Relentlessly target growth, and import a million more people into the city. Do nothing to address the pressure this places on services. Also, have no plan with regard to housing. Then, spend frivolously on random "culture" passion projects that no one wants, and buy 3 armoured Range Rovers.

Then, the next master stroke, spend a few million quid on this "climate" initiative, which is largely about funding tenured professors and greasing hands of extended family members. Remember to make the tax payer foot the bill for it all.

Then when living standards drop; blame the weather.

Good job lads.

I've already made a comment, however another member inspired this one;

The mayor of London can divest from any funds related to fossil fuels: pensions, savings. This would be a massive change, yet unnoticeable.

https://www.divest.org.uk/