London’s boroughs have welcomed government plans for tighter regulation of e-bike renting, a transport option that has transformed travel for the better for some in the capital but made pavements less pleasant and more perilous for many others.
Provisions in the newly-published English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill owe much to the efforts of Rachel Blake MP, Brent leader Muhammed Butt and others. Assuming they become law, they can help with reversing the degeneration of too many of the capital’s streets. But getting a serious grip on the job is going to take more.
Nuisance cycling as a whole is indulged far too readily. The affluent young males who dominate the London cyclist demographic effectively receive a free pass to ignore rules and break the law, casually sailing through red lights and invading pedestrian space.
The more public money is lavished on their lifestyle choice, the more delinquent they become, routinely ignoring zebra crossings painted in vain on bus stop by-passes that penalise bus users and create real danger for some.
The City Corporation stands alone among London governance bodies in taking serious action against the pelotons of bicycle boy racers who think themselves entitled to ignore the social contract about street behaviour that the majority honour and depend on.
That contract is besieged in many ways and from many quarters. On Politics London, Kensington & Chelsea leader Elizabeth Campbell has contemplated with despair the further damage that could be done to London local government finances by the latest national government funding formula.
Different boroughs stand to be affected in different ways, and some, as Hornchurch & Upminster MP Julia Lopez MP said of Havering, may fare better than others. But more funding cuts risks more, to borrow Tony Travers’s term, “grotification” of London, as boroughs struggle to pay for cleaning and other maintenance.
Neighbourhood street environments really matter in people’s lives, providing close-to-home communal spaces where we not only consume but also mix, linger and relax. When they are tranquil, welcoming and clean, these forms of public realm make us feel good, enhancing our lives. When they are hazardous, edgy and grubby they disturb us and bring us down, feeding feelings of helplessness and gloom.
Uncollected rubbish, antisocial attitudes, rough sleepers and people begging for spare change foster feelings of a city going backwards and an impulse to stay in and withdraw.
These problems are far from unrecognised. The Mayor is seeking to boost post-Covid recovery, announcing last week that 50 grand of City Hall cash will go to each of a dozen London high streets, in line with London Growth Plan ambitions. Councils, charities, the Met and others wrestle with them all the time, but the struggle can feel steeply uphill when the needed resources are scarce. Persuasive, high-profile leadership can help too.
As Campbell remarked, more scope for raising Council Tax would help, but the property value bands put in place, incredibly, way back in 1991 are still judged too politically scary to reform, even though property values themselves have soared. Community empowerment does not, it seems extend to enabling communities’ elected representatives to raise more from those who can afford it.
London’s streets are places where good vibes and bad compete to define how Londoners’ feel about the parts of the city they live in and the capital as a whole. They are key influences on its spirit and on how others perceive it. The stuff of making streets better can seem parochial and small. Yet it is vital to creating the Good City.
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