TfL announces winners of Liveable Neighbourhoods funding

Eleven London councils have secured funding for projects to make their streets more people-friendly. The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) is providing a total of £53m in the second phase of its Liveable Neighbourhoods programme. Seven boroughs were awarded a total of £33m towards phase one projects in 2017. 

TfL received 22 bids for phase two funding. The winning bids comprise a range of projects designed to cut rat running, make junctions safer, implement new walking and cycling infrastructure, create pocket parks and revamp public spaces.

The eleven projects are:

• Shortlands, Bromley: Improve travel connections for pedestrians and cyclists to Shortlands station, with new protected cycle lanes on Bromley Road and Valley Road and new pedestrian crossings across the A222. New public spaces around the Shortlands war memorial and Shortlands village centre along with pocket parks. New pedestrians crossing on Station Road and a new cycle hub at Shortlands station. School Streets along with three low traffic neighbourhoods. £2.4m from TfL and £2.5m from the London Borough of Bromley.
• Holborn, Camden: Removal of a gyratory system and protected cycle lanes along High Holborn and Theobalds Road. Sections of New Oxford Street and Great Russell Street tobe closed to motor vehicles while a section of Bloomsbury Way restricted to buses and cycles only. Pedestrianise Great Russell Street, with an enhanced pedestrian environment around Holborn station. £9.4m from TfL and £3.1m from the London Borough of Camden.
• Old Town, Croydon: Changes will be made to Croydon’s Old Town area, including Wandle Park and Minster Green. Reduce speeds on the flyover, transform subways at Old Town roundabout, reallocate road space to cycling and turn a major road into a ‘Healthy Boulevard’ with new green infrastructure. £9.5m from TfL and £7.7m from the London Borough of Croydon.
• Enfield Town, Enfield: Investment in Enfield Town Centre to focus on Church Street, narrowing the carriageway, connecting Market Square (pictured) and the shopping centre and making it safer to walk to the train station. Junctions redesigned to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists and segregated cycle tracks built on Cecil Road, connecting with existing routes built as part of Enfield’s Mini Holland programme. £5.9m from TfL and £2.9m from the London Borough of Enfield.
• South Chiswick, Hounslow: Investment in South Chiswick to provide a new pedestrian bridge under Barnes railway bridge to fill a missing link in to the Thames Path at Dukes Meadow. New cycle connections between the Thames Path and the upcoming Cycleway 9. Grove Park piazza redesigned, school streets introduced and low-traffic neighbourhoods developed in the residential areas south of the A4. £1.9m from TfL and £1.3m from the London Borough of Hounslow.
• Brixton, Lambeth: This project centres on Atlantic Road in Brixton. New technology introduced to better manage loading and servicing of local freight services.  Public spaces revamped with wider footways and new pedestrian crossings. Three cycle routes improved: Brixton to Clapham Common, Brixton to Camberwell and Brixton to Herne Hill. Low traffic neighbourhoods in the Ferndale and Railton neighbourhoods and a fully segregated cycle route linking to the Loughborough neighbourhood. £9.5m from TfL and £2m from the London Borough of Lambeth.
• Freemasons Road, Newham: A new cycling link between Custom House Interchange and Cycleway 3 on Newham Way and a network of local routes developed to enable sustainable travel across the wider station catchment area. A new town square and arrival point from the Elizabeth line stations. General traffic to be removed from the New Barn Street underpass, restricting it to buses and bikes only. £3.2m from TfL and £1.6m from the London Borough of Newham.
• South Bermondsey, Southwark: Investment at the Bramcote Park estate will reduce car use by make walking and cycling easier for local residents and connect the area with the future Cycleway 4 and Old Kent Road. Roads will be closed to through traffic, junctions re-designed and streets made easier to cross on foot. Improved links to the Deptford Parks Liveable Neighbourhood, for which Lewisham Council was awarded funding last year. £3m from TfL and £1.3m from the London Borough of Southwark.
• Bow, Tower Hamlets: Roman Road will become one-way for motor traffic with improved routes for buses into the town centre. Proposals for St Stephen’s Road include continuous footways and the removal of the car park to create a new outdoor space. Proposals for Old Ford Road include better traffic management and new cycle facilities. Modal filters on residential streets throughout the area. £3.3m from TfL and £1.7m from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
• Ilford, Redbridge: Improved access to Ilford town centre. New segregated cycle lanes along with new bridges over the River Roding and Alders Brook, enabling more people to walk and cycle to neighbourhoods north of Ilford Town Centre. Developing good access to the future Ilford Housing Zone with quality open space along the river Roding valley and cycle links to Wanstead, Stratford, Barking and Essex. £3.2m from TfL and £2m from the London Borough of Redbridge.
• City Cluster, City of London: Reduced traffic passing through the ‘City Cluster’, in the east of the City of London, with innovative technology developed to implement and manage the Vision Zero zone. Open up streets as public spaces, initially with lunchtime closures extending to permanent traffic restrictions in the busiest streets. £3.3m from TfL and £12.2m from the City of London Corporation.

In the first phase of Liveable Neighbourhoods funding, TfL awarded £33m to seven schemes in late 2017. Ealing, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Havering, Lewisham and Waltham Forest are making good progress on their schemes, with consultations set to begin later this year, said TfL.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “For too long streets around London have been designed solely around cars and motor traffic. Our £50m investment will transform neighbourhoods and local town centres in inner and outer London, making them cleaner, greener and more pleasant places to spend time.

“Working with these boroughs to make our streets more welcoming for walking and cycling is vital for our health and wellbeing, but also essential for the future vibrancy and success of London’s local high streets.”

Gareth Powell, TfL’s Managing Director for Surface Transport, said: “Some of London’s streets can be unwelcoming places that feel threatening to the most vulnerable road users, making walking, cycling and using public transport difficult and unattractive. We’re working closely with residents, businesses and boroughs across London to change this.

“Our funding will help to boost health, reduce road danger, clean up some of the capital’s pollution hot spots and revitalise local communities by making streets places where people want to spend time with their friends, families and neighbours.” 

Last year TfL published action plans for increasing the number of people walking and cycling, as well as outlining the Vision Zero commitment to eliminate death and serious injuries from London’s roads.

TfL’s £2.3bn record Healthy Streets funding includes investment in London’s growing cycling network. TfL is set to begin work on the Cycleway 9 and Cycleway 4 routes in west and south-east London later this year. Construction of a further two routes, between Hackney and the Isle of Dogs and between Tottenham Hale and Camden, is due to start later this year, subject to consultation.

The Mayor’s Cycling Action Plan, launched in January, sets out how TfL and the Mayor aims toi double the number of cycle trips in the capital over the next six years.

* Landor LINKS has been working on a Liveable Neighbourhoods Best Practice Guide in partnership with TfL. The essential 64-page guide - sponsored by Project Centre, Urban Movement, Cyclehoop, Commonplace and Rosehill Polymers - has been produced for any organisation that is developing projects that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport.  

The guide will be officially launched at the inaugural Liveable Neighbourhoods Conference & Exhibition, taking place on Wednesday 10 July at Alexandra Palace. The event is hosted by Haringey Council, which will provide insight into the Crouch End development that is part of the first phase of Liveable Neighbourhoods funding.  

The Liveable Neighbourhoods Conference is designed as the first meeting place of all programme leaders, officers, engineers, policy-makers, and planners who will be working on Liveable Neighbourhoods programmes across Greater London. The one-day conference will allow project teams to come together to discuss and debate positive next steps, sharing of experience as well as find opportunities for collaboration. Details of how much funding will be available for the next round will be announced at the event.

For more information about the Liveable Neighbourhoods Conference contact Daniel Simpson daniel@landor.co.uk or 0207 091 7861.