London is a diverse city with different communities that have multiple and sometimes conflicting views and needs; this is confounded by the fact it is divided into 33 different Boroughs which each have their own independent strategies; these plans are configured according to the needs of their residents. This means that the Boroughs that have already agreed to making their areas Age-friendly are at different stages of getting the domains embedded into their plans.
However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) has strategy oversight and the present Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has an ambition to make a ‘city for all Londoners' and is supporting the eight domains to make London an Age-friendly City.
London signed up to the Age-friendly Communities initiative in June 2018. Since then the GLA has hosted meetings with stakeholders and held a series of workshops with older Londoners last winter which was to form the basis of an action plan. Further progress was then halted by the pandemic. The GLA has subsequently focused on social and economic recovery from COVID-19. To this end, nine projects were identified including ‘High Streets for All’, ‘Mental Wellbeing’ and ‘A Robust Safety Net’. Older people have not been specifically mentioned but the recovery plan presents a unique opportunity to build back better: It can contribute to making London Age-friendly if it is implemented with older people in mind – as contributors and as well as beneficiaries.
Elections for London Mayor and Assembly will take place in May 2021. Working in small groups around the eight Age-friendly Communities domain topics, older Londoners identified the top five priorities within each for action by the GLA over the next four years. These were presented to – and endorsed by – a wider audience at a virtual meeting on 9 March hosted by the London Age-friendly Forum.
Age UK London will publish their priorities on their website on 31 March.
