London's main roads can accommodate growth and make our city more like itself
London's population, according to the Office for National Statistics, is projected to grow by 13% - over a million people - between 2012 and 2022. This means there is a need for more of every type of building - offices, factories, schools and hospitals - as well as the homes that are the main subject of discussion when growth is discussed. There is plenty of room within Greater London to accommodate this growth, and that is what the London Plan proposes to do. But it's not easy to reconcile this pressing need with the tendency of local authority planning committees to resist it in their decision making. It seems unlikely that if asked, committee members would support people being accommodated in sheds in the back gardens of TfL's zones 4 to 6, but that is what happens at present - out of sight, out of mind, perhaps. London is not like New York (hellzapoppin, at least in Manhattan) or Paris (homogeneous, at least until you get out to the banlieues). Its growth pro...