London suburbs: The end is nigh

Published 01st Jul 2007

London’s suburbs are in danger of becoming economic and investment wastelands…
Suburbs are home to nearly two-thirds of Londoners, but while 'the city' has been treated to an urban renaissance, the capital's suburbs have been quietly struggling to adapt to significant challenges that are changing the face of suburbia.

A London Assembly report: Semi-detached: reconnecting London's suburbs - reveals that suburbs are in danger of becoming dormitories that are too dependent on private car use and lacking the local jobs, amenities, community assets and open space that once made them so desirable.

The Mayor has set ambitious targets for each borough to increase housing stock over the next ten years, and almost half of all new housing in London will be built in the suburbs up until 2016. Yet his London Plan forecasts a loss of employment in the suburbs as jobs go to the centre of London or the town centres beyond the M25.

Balance needed between growth and environment

The report identifies a need for the Mayor and boroughs to do more to boost local employment, increase investment in public transport and amenities, and manage the balance between housing growth and the suburban environment many Londoners value.

Tony Arbour, Chairman of the Assembly's Planning and Spatial Development Committee, said: "Londoners from Hampton Wick to Hackney Wick would say that they live in their own local community.

Places in their own right make up suburban London and they need to retain the character that attracted people there in the first place? we need to reconnect homes with local jobs, unite communities with community assets, and strike the right balance between housing and green space.

Suburbs ‘just as important’ as the centre
Without this reconnection, the future for even more Londoners will be a long commute on an overcrowded train, or a trip in the car just to get to a shop.

Our report demonstrates that there is more to London than the City and West End and that the suburbs are just as important to the capital. This must inform the London Plan.

Being 'semi-detached and suburban' is to play a key role in the future of the greatest city in the world and one which must be encouraged
Source: http://www.housefund.co.uk

Source: ' Move Channel Ltd '

View All Latest News