Lend us your roofs!

I am calling on the Mayor, Councils and Londoners to help “lend us your roofs” to tackle the climate crisis. 

At Mayor’s Question Time I raised the lack of solar panels in London, and talked about a startling scene in the Sean Bean and Stephen Graham prison drama “Time” on the BBC.

During the programme, a drone shot of Runcorn revealed a high number of houses with solar panels. I told the Mayor: “I can’t think of anywhere like that in London, and statistics show we are the lowest region for solar power installations.”

I want the Mayor to do more to help make it easier for people to fit solar panels right across London, where there is currently a bit of a postcode lottery and too many obstacles to getting permission. 

One problem is the amount of red tape in conservation areas. I said: “There can be an idea that solar panels are some kind of blot on the landscape. I think it’s time to change the narrative, generate more demand, get people won over.”

I asked the London Mayor for a city-wide campaign promoting solar panels, and he’s agreed to arrange a meeting to discuss possible options. 

It’s not good enough just to shrug our shoulders about this. There is no permanent damage from installing solar panels on a roof, and just imagine if we could lend the roofs of our homes that have been around for 100 years or more for just a few decades to help in this huge effort.

I think a campaign to get whole streets, whole communities to lend their roofs to this emergency would be a brilliant thing for the London Assembly and the Mayor to lead on.

Watch my questions here: