Mayor launches 10-year plan to restore London’s rivers and tackle pollution
The Mayor of London has launched a 10-year Clean Rivers and Waterways plan to “transform” London’s rivers, “ridding them of pollution, making them safe and accessible for Londoners and ensuring nature and wildlife can thrive.” The plan will focus on “key locations” around the capital where the “restoration of blue and green spaces can deliver the fastest and widest benefits for Londoners.”
The rivers and waterways stretch across over 600km of London but have “suffered decades of neglect and pollution,” City Hall said. Five times more sewage has flowed into the capital’s rivers in 2023 than in the previous year, causing “devastating consequences” for wildlife.
Today, none of London’s rivers is assessed as being in “good” condition and the equivalent of 1.8 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of sewage is dumped into London’s rivers and misconnected properties every day.
City Hall says that the Mayor considers access to nature to be “an issue of social justice,” adding that he has “made a manifesto commitment to halt the decline of London’s river,” and that he is committed ensuring that all Londoners “should be able to enjoy clean, thriving rivers and waterways.”
Expanding access to blue spaces including swimming and other water-based recreation activities is a “key area” in the Mayor’s recently launched Heat Ready London report, a city-wide vision that sets out how the capital needs to adapt to “increasingly frequent and severe hot weather.”
Over 50 partners, including boroughs, water firms, charities, and community groups were brought together by the Mayor for the Clean Rivers and Waterways plan for London which City Hall calls “one of the world’s most ambitious programmes to transform urban waterways.”
What changes would you like to see along London’s rivers and waterways? Share your thoughts in the comments and follow EyeOnLondon for more London environment and City Hall news.
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