SAVE OUR LONDON NOW
"Equal" - the same in importance and deserving the same treatment
"Sustainable" - causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time
Read the new London Plan
Read what the Mayor of London says about the new London Plan
The Inequalities of the London Plan that must be stopped
Wherever you live in London, our local authorities and the Mayor of London have decided – without the requirement for any local environmental, health or equalities assessment – how much development shall take place in our area
London’s growth has already been hugely unevenly distributed between 2001 and 2019, with Kensington seeing a fall in its population and Merton and Hammersmith and Fulham seeing only single digit growth in percentage terms, whilst Newham and Tower Hamlets saw population growth of over 40% and 60% respectively against a London-wide average of 22%
Under the new London Plan, people living in certain areas of London, and particularly in outer London, are to be hit with large-scale development on a scale not seen before. People living in wide areas across boroughs such as Hounslow, Ealing, Kingston, Merton and Wandsworth in the south and west of London and Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Enfield, Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Haringey and Barking and Dagenham in the north and east, which are targeted as ‘opportunity areas’ and ‘strategic areas for regeneration’, will suffer most
People living in many of these areas already suffer the greatest population density, highest pollution levels and the least green and open space. Other areas, such as Kingston and the Lee Valley, have been targeted for large-scale development because of their proximity to green space, but with scant regard for the rare and valuable biodiversity value that such space provides and the need for it to be protected
Yet all of these places are areas where the London Plan envisages an acceleration of residential development on a massive scale, with the construction of vast numbers of unaffordable, high-rise, high-density flats
Much of the proposed development, such as office to residential conversions, student accommodation, ‘shared living’ and flats on top of existing buildings, have no space standards to which developers are required to adhere. The minimum space standards that do exist in the Plan are not generous in the first place and minimum amenity and outdoor space is encouraged due apparently ‘to the level of housing need and the need to make efficient use of land’
The London Plan is also predicated on the assumption that Crossrail and other rail networks, many currently unfunded, will be the conduit for millions of people to travel to the centre of London for work. Notwithstanding people working from home, with so much overcrowding on the network already, the addition of hundreds of thousands more people in London would make such travel even more of a nightmare. Post the Coronavirus, will it even be a possibility?
It’s time to take stock
This crisis has to be a turning point. The way we’ve been living has not been sustainable, equitable or humane
Space is a human rights issue
We all need enough space both inside our dwellings and in our outside environment
Nature is also a human rights issue. We all need natural green spaces within walking distance of where we live that can support us without being destroyed themselves. That is sustainable development
Urban super-densification is not working in this crisis
The Coronavirus is revealing the cracks in our modes of living, with people’s physical and mental health deteriorating day by day, with, of course, poor and disadvantaged people worst affected
"Opportunity Areas" - Soaring Inequalities in the new London Plan
"Opportunity Areas" are areas for huge high-rise growth like you can see going up at Vauxhall, Battersea and Nine Elms. This is the model that is being used for large-scale high-rise growth in all the areas below and which represents unsustainable development that will vastly increase inequalities across our capital city
The Mayor of London argues that opportunity area growth has been planned in areas with the "capacity" to take it. But the research we have conducted shows that there has often been no assessment at all on a local level - as is the case in Kingston - of the effects of growth on the scale agreed on equalities, health and the environment, including habitats and biodiversity,
"Opportunity area" growth targets are on pages 36 and 37 of the linked document
These growth figures are in addition to each Borough's base housing targets and are for high-rise, dense, super-urban development on "large" sites
We have reproduced the figures below (figures over 5,000 in bold, over 10,000 in red) as they appear in the London Plan. The figures are not presented in the London Plan by by geographic area in London which HIDES huge massing of development that is going to happen in certain places:
Res. units Jobs
West/ North West London
Hounslow 20.500 25,000
Hayes 4,000 1,000
Southall 9,000 3,000
Ealing -Old Oak/Park Royal 25,500 65,000
Ealing -Old Oak Park Royal (appears twice) 25,500 65,000
Wembley 14,000 13,500
Colindale/Burnt Oak 7,000 2,000
Brent Cross/Cricklewood 9,500 26,000
Harrow and Wealdstone 5,000 1,000
Kensal Canalside 3,500 2,000
South West/ South London
Kingston 9,000 5,000
Wimbledon/Colliers Wood/South Wimbledon 5,000 6,000
Clapham Junction 2,500 2,500
Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea 18,500 18,500
Sutton 5,000 3,500
Croydon 14,500 10,500
White City 7,000 2,000
Earls Court/West Kensington 6,500 5,000
South/ South East London
Greenwich Peninsula 17,000 15,000
New Cross/Lewisham/Catford 13,500 4,000
Bexley Riverside 6,000 19,000
Thamesmead/Abbey Wood 8,000 4,000
Bromley 2,500 2,000
North/ North East/ Central-East London
North Lee Valley 21,000 13,000
Wood Green 4,500 2,500
New Southgate 2,500 3,000
Ilford 6,000 500
Romford 5,000 500
Stratford 39,000 65,000
North and South Poplar Riverside 9,000 3,000
Royal Docks/Beckton Riverside 30,000 41,500
London Riverside 44,000 29,000
Charlton Riverside 8,000 1,000
Woolwich 5,000 2,500
Deptford Creek/Greenwich Riverside 5,500 3,000
Peckham: Old Kent Road 12,000 5,000
Central and Isle of Dogs
Waterloo 1,500 6,000
Elephant & Castle 5,000 10,000
London Bridge/Bankside 4,000 5,500
Angel: City Fringe/Tech City 15,500 50,500
Canada Water 5,000 20,000
Isle of Dogs 29,000 110,000
Paddington 1,000 13,000
Victoria 1,000 4,000
Tottenham Court Road 300 6,000
Euston 2,800 - 3,800 8,600 - 15,000
King’s Cross 1,000 25,000
10 year base housing targets in Policy H1 of the new London Plan (Opportunity Area housing targets add to these figures)
Barking & Dagenham 19,440
Barnet 23,640
Bexley 6,850
Brent 23,250
Bromley 7,740
Camden 10,380
City of London 1,460
Croydon 20,790
Ealing 21,570
Enfield 12,460
Greenwich 28,240
Hackney 13,280
Hammersmith & Fulham 16,090
Haringey 15,920
Harrow 8,020
Havering 12,850
Hillingdon 10,830
Hounslow 17,820
Islington 7,750
Kensington & Chelsea 4,480
Kingston 9,640
Lambeth 13,350
Lewisham 16,670
London Legacy Development Corporation 21,540
Merton 9,180
Newham 32,800
Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation 13,670
Redbridge 14,090
Richmond 4,110
Southwark 23,550
Sutton 4,690
Tower Hamlets 34,730
Waltham Forest 12,640
Wandsworth 19,500
Westminster 9,850
Total 522,870
14 places across London are designated as Metropolitan Town Centres and are eamarked for particularly large-scale growth in the London Plan
How do these deignations make sense, given the lack of decent public transport in many areas and access to green space that can sustain human onslaught? Kingston, for example, relies heavily on dirty and slow buses for people to travel around and has a lack of green space. Majority of accessible space is protected natural habitats to which we should not all be heading for our recreation. Destroying natural biodiversity can not be good for our mental health at a period of such huge environmental crisis.
1. Bromley
2. Croydon
3. Ealing
4, Shepherd's Bush
5. Wood Green
6. Harrow
7. Romford
8. Uxbridge
9. Hounslow
10. Kingston
11. Stratford
12. Ilford
13. Sutton
14. Canary Wharf