Sam Trosow on the Issues Facing London in the Next Council Term

The inter-related issues of housing affordability, property conditions, displacement and homelessness continue to be pressing problems. The next council must develop a more integrated and consistent approach to improve health and safety enforcement, fight displacement and demolitions-by-neglect, and better stabilize the persistent homelessness crisis.

While the city has developed a Master Mobility Plan, it still needs to be carefully implemented and funded. Neighbourhood traffic safety has become a major city-wide concern and improvements to London’s transit services are sorely needed. The next council must provide adequate funding for improvements to public transit and active transportation.

Our music, arts and culture sector needs more secure funding, enhanced coordination, better access to community space, and a deeper appreciation of local artists and musicians. This will promote tourism, economic development and core area regeneration, but the next council must more purposefully address the problem of vacant buildings.

The city has made inadequate progress meeting its emission and climate change goals and we are continuously faced with the loss of our natural and built heritage. While London’s development policies have been geared primarily to increase the overall supply of new units, the next council must take a more targeted approach stressing affordability, historical preservation, environmental sustainability, and neighbourhood compatibility.

Cutting across all these areas is the need to improve how the city interacts with the public. Transparency and civic participation must be improved throughout the term of council. The next council must develop a better understanding of why civic engagement is so low and how these barriers to participation can be addressed.