Lost rivers of London to resurface in Boris plan

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Advisers to Boris Johnson are looking to create more open spaces and water features by uncovering parts of the tributaries flowing into the Thames.

The Wandle, which flows from Croydon to Wandsworth, the Bourne in south-east London and the Brent, which passes through Wembley, are among the 16 "lost" waterways the Mayor wants to bring back to the surface.

The scheme will start in the suburbs but will include "ornamental stretches" of inner London rivers if possible.

Mr Johnson is due to lay out other ambitious plans for the city to industry leaders this week. They include making London a more "liveable" place and confining skyscrapers to "clusters" in the City, Canary Wharf and Croydon.

Will Alsop, the architect drafted in to help alter Croydon's skyline, has centred his vision for the area on bringing the Wandle back to the surface.

Another design firm has suggested turning Fleet Street, where the river Fleet once ran, into a Venetian-style waterway. The Fleet and the Tyburn still f low below the streets. Peter Bishop, director of Design for London, the group advising the Mayor, said: "When these rivers are opened up I think Londoners will be amazed. The rivers have been there all the time but you never see them."

Sir Simon Milton, the Mayor's planning adviser, said: "Boris's big theme is quality of life because if London is to compete with the emerging cities of Shanghai and Mumbai, this is what is going to differentiate us. This theme of liveability is going to resonate through a lot of the changes in planning and development policy."

Sir Simon is due to meet architect Sir Terry Farrell to discuss a tree-lined promenade linking Primrose Hill to the Embankment via Oxford Circus and Trafalgar Square. It would be modelled on Las Ramblas, a Barcelona boulevard. A riverside promenade on the north bank of the Thames to mirror that by the South Bank is another proposal.

Mr Johnson was also among a group of 40 MPs who have demanded that Gordon Brown forces big companies to report their carbon emissions.