London’s 33 boroughs are to receive £80.4m to deliver new cycle routes, school streets schemes, new or upgraded pedestrian crossings and bus priority schemes, as part of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Local Implementation Plan (LIP) funding.
This is an increase of 16% from 2023/24, when boroughs were allocated £69m.
In 2024/25, £41m will be made available to outer London boroughs and £25m to inner London boroughs.
According to TfL, the funding will help deliver a range of improvements in outer London to help support more active travel and support last year’s expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone across London.
New schemes include proposals for more than 150 new and upgraded pedestrian crossings and signals, the introduction of 20mph speed limits on roads, junction and corridor improvements, as well as the delivery of new bus lanes.
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Of 125 bus schemes receiving LIP funding, 89 are planned in outer London boroughs. TfL is targeting building 25km (15.5 miles) of new bus lanes by March 2025.
The funding will also be used to deliver 30km (18.6 miles) of new cycle routes across London and more than 2,000 secure residential cycle parking spaces, with £2.7m allocated for the provision of free cycle training sessions.
Meanwhile, TfL has allocated an additional £5m for borough-led cycling schemes in 2024/25 to help boroughs increase accessibility to cycling on local roads and make their network safer for cyclists.
TfL is aiming for 70% of Londoners to live within 400m of the network by 2041.
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Penny Rees, TfL’s head of healthy streets investment, said: “Working closely with London’s boroughs is central to achieving a cleaner, greener and healthier London by reducing road danger, improving air quality and encouraging active travel.
“The Local Implementation Plan programme provides vital, localised investment in bus priority, walking and cycling schemes across the city and this investment will deliver huge benefits.
“It plays a key role in our commitment to provide a green, healthy and sustainable future for all Londoners and we look forward to working closely with the boroughs to deliver projects that make our city greener, safer and better for everyone.”
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Announcement of the funding package comes after TfL and London Councils published a Borough Three Year Report, which demonstrates how boroughs have used LIP funding over three years (2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22) to make London’s roads safer and more attractive for people using public transport, walking and cycling.
According to the report, since 2019 new infrastructure delivered through the funding includes 89 new accessible bus stops, more than 110 schemes to increase bus priority or accessibility and 7km (4.3 miles) new or improved bus lanes.
Walking and cycling have also been made accessible throughout London through installation of 50km (31 miles) of wider footways, 157km (97.5 miles) of new or upgraded cycling routes and 74 new pedestrian crossings.
Access to cycling has also improved through nearly 110,000 new on- and off-street cycle parking spaces and training provided to 50,000 adults and just under 135,000 children.
Additionally, around 500 School Streets have also been introduced, with almost 25% of primary schools now having a School Street.
Achievements and innovations in active travel, transport planning and public transport will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
