Planning for a better London

We have too many properties in London that are unoccupied - often just owned as investments. Put a higher ‘not occupied’ rate on them to force them into use or raise money for new affordable housing. 

New York is famed as being "The City that never sleeps":Whilst the relationship there between income and expenditure is very different to Londoners, perhaps some ideas could be gained by making comparisons. I for one would like to observe New York's night life and investigate how it is enabled.

It seems we have an increasing amount of  unused office buildings in London. Why can’t we have these turned into homes? There are also many empty residential properties too, these should all be used first instead of building more and more flimsy high rises. The government announced this week that it will be sending staff to work outside of London. That will free up more property to turn into housing and/or leisure facilities etc.

Need safer and more transport options to get people in and out. Too few options exist which doesnt serve all areas of the capital and really limits numbers. Waterloo, Paddington, London Bridge etc should be 24 hour stations which keeps the city moving. Increase cultural (museum/library) and sport/health activities/experiences through the night.  Nighttime group walks, activities, runs, bike events. Nike once staged a nighttime 10k and it was great. Have a nighttime only hub which advertises events. 

East London is full of empty brownfield sites - many of them have had planning permission for years! Why aren’t authorities putting pressure on developers to build on these sites? 

There is no need to damage wildlife further by building on green belt land. This new ‘grey belt’ policy is such a slippery slope. 

Why is it always about the economy?  Why is it never about the settled populations quality of life, a quality of life that is being severely damaged by "Plans" that always cater for others.

B Ekins 

Without effective policing the reputation for "unsafe" after dark areas will increase. Meaning especially tourists will get advice not to visit.  Sadly current policing is ineffective and largely derided, I have several friends who have been attacked, or had phones or bags stolen - with the current police attitude they don't even bother to report incidents. (why bother when nothing will be done). So you can be sure criminal activity in central London is hugely under reported. Hand in hand with growth of the night-time economy there MUST be increased and effective policing or London will be the next Times SQuare 

London doesn't simply need more building. Ending the right to buy, returning empty properties to use and rent control are just as important for creating more affordable housing. Landlords who solely extract as much cash as possible from tenants while allowing their properties to decay with no oversight is a huge problem.

We need to stop building high-rise towers. They are environmentally damaging, impersonal, create wind vortices, block attractive views. It is possible to build the same density of housing without building high-rise; Norwich is an excellent example. High-rise use vast amounts of concrete which is environmentally damaging, require deep foundations, which are expensive to build because London already has so much going on underground (transport, sewers, electricity and other cabling); so much better to build low-rise where a real feeling of community can be generated. High-rise are cold and impersonal, available either to the v rich or the v poor; for the latter it leads to isolation, adds to the challenges of bringing up a family.

I would encourage employing local people first, which would ease traffic and reduce commuting time for people. Next, I would encourage shared work from home/office, (2 or 3 days in, 2 or 3 days work from home), which would have the same effect. It worked quite well during convid.

I would also like to see Farmers' markets in every part of London, at least on Saturdays, so people can get a good quality local food rather than imported goods. 

Revive community centers for all age groups, every age group should find some activity there that should interest them, and encourage brainstorming sessions for local people, so the ideas come from the bottom up.

Another hypocritical survey from a thief sadiq and a co. Stop bullshitting people about lack of affordable and social housing - stop selling London to luxury developers! Shame on you! 

I don’t hold much hope that these comments will amount to anything but here goes…

I have spent the past 10 years and more than £1M of public funds (National Lottery, UKRI, MHCLG) in developing new solutions to support and inspire adults across their 100-year lives. The resultant model - The Common Room - uses purpose, human connection and intergenerational knowledge transfer to empower individuals, integrate communities and boost local economic growth. It’s place-based, community-owned, affordable and scalable. I’d love to present it to the GLA but no matter how hard I try I’ve never managed to engage anyone on the inside. I’m not entirely sure anyone is really listening.

Sincerely

Dr Jonathan M Collie, MBChB, MBA

Lifework-Lab.com

I am commenting in light of Camden Council’s heating retrofit of Alexandra Road Estate, a landmark example of social housing with a high proportion of council tenants. Despite the urgency of tackling the climate crisis and fuel poverty, Camden’s approved scheme includes no renewable energy, no wall or roof insulation, no solar panels, and no ventilation strategy. Critically, no thermal assessment has been undertaken to understand the impact on cold, damp, and mould. This in despite of the requirements highlighted by Awaab’s Law.

This failure reflects a wider issue: while the London Plan rightly focuses on delivering new homes, it must place equal priority on retrofitting existing housing stock to modern environmental and health standards. Council housing, in particular, offers a major opportunity to deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits through well-designed retrofits.

Retrofitting without insulation, renewables, or proper ventilation is not progress, it risks embedding poor living conditions for decades. The London Plan must ensure that boroughs deliver retrofit schemes that address carbon reduction, affordability, and residents’ health in a joined-up, evidence-based way.

I urge the London Plan to require:

• Comprehensive retrofit standards including insulation, renewables, and ventilation.
• Mandatory thermal modelling for all significant retrofit projects.
• Stronger oversight to prevent councils from delivering substandard, short-term fixes.

This is essential to meet London’s climate goals and protect residents’ health.

The Mayor has consistently failed miserably in providing sufficient housing for Londoners. He should concentrate on this and get developers to build where there are consents already in place and make proper use of brown field sites. Developers who are sitting on land banks in the capital should be penalised. The Mayor should target this and stay out of the greenbelt which is just an added distraction. 

Councils need to identify brown belt & discussed land that they own and build housing on that rather than stealing green belt land.  

Focusing on access and interests of local communities. 

The over priced food, dodgy tat shops full of 'London' souvenirs and other places just spouting plastic to tourists could make way for:

Places to help repair and share tools, electronics and other bits around the community. 

Places you can get decent meals, without jacked up prices. 

Less focus on rubbish consumables and move focus on events, meeting halls, sports for all. Encouragement for people to walk. 

When there is better community, people don't feel so afraid to go out at night. You're more likely to know someone who is around. 

When the high street is for the local and not the tourist, not so many bars are needed, so the quality can increase. 

Economic growth is not sustainable anymore. Hence, you need a new model.