With ministers demanding London build 88,000 homes a year in their bid to construct 1.5million new dwellings across the country by 2029, concerns around increased urban density displacing nature have also been raised.<\/p>\n
But Abby Crisostomo, who heads up Green Infrastructure at the Greater London Authority (GLA), has said that City Hall doesn\u2019t need to choose one over the other.<\/p>\n
She told the Centre for London conference on Monday (10 November): \u201cThere\u2019s been a creation of a false choice between the housing that we need and nature, and the rhetoric\u2019s really not that helpful because we all know for a place of development to be livable and free. Health and wellbeing are fundamental for any development.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so you can\u2019t just pit\u00a0 developments and nature against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we have so many examples in London of where they work very well together. In many cases, development can enhance and improve nature. And there\u2019s really so many of the major developments in London over the last decade or so have done that really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
She cited construction around the Olympic Park as one example of how developers can pursue this agenda as the deadline for drawing up the next London Plan \u2013 which will dictate planning strategy for years to come \u2013 in 2027 approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a very green city in London,\u201d Ms Crisostomo added.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all of that green is high quality, not all of it is doing a good purpose, not all is accessible to the people who need it the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thinking really closely as we develop a London plan about how to think about the space we need, whether that\u2019s for housing or industrial land or green space, but also strengthening the policies that we have that make sure that developments are green.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rhetoric around one versus the other is what is getting us kind of distracted from actually just doing it well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Muthu De Silva of the University of London, who also spoke at the conference, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): \u201cLondon\u2019s housing challenge is also its greatest opportunity: to create homes that deliver economic, environmental, and social value \u2013 simultaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, deputy mayor of London for planning Jules Pipe said that \u201chousing delivery and good environmental policy can go hand in hand\u201d despite a proposed increased use of green belt land for new developments.<\/p>\n
The Centre for London conference also saw Minister for Energy Michael Shanks suggesting that the capital still had some way to go to decarbonise despite being a pioneer for other UK regions.<\/p>\n
He told attendees: \u201cLondon has done a huge amount to lead the way in this transition to date, but we have keep raising the bar and I\u2019m afraid that means there is much more ambition and work ahead for us.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/b>London, which has been a trailblazer in many of these issues, is right at the heart of how we achieve these [Net Zero] targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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