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Transport for London has today published a paper on the Mayor’s Streetspace programme. This shows that when considered against the planned £417m investment in healthy streets it is actually a cut of £317m to funding for walking and cycling in London this year.
Next year TfL’s budget for Healthy Streets is JUST £98m, after that the budget is basically empty. w/o more £s, soon there'll be no new cycleways, no safer junctions, no liveable neighbourhoods in the pipeline. This is not the time to be cutting investment in walking and cycling.
I raised this looming black hole with the Mayor last month, and he insisted borough funding wouldn't be cut, that other programmes were paused and there would be more schemes. Today’s announced cuts make me doubt his ability to meet those commitments. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/assembly/caroline-russell/streetspace-plan-sticking-plaster-over-huge-cuts
Last week TfL allocated final Streetspace budget. The Mayor had touted this as £45m new funding for boroughs. But £15m went on sunk and other costs, so boroughs only got £30m. Today’s paper shows JUST £3m of further funding for the second half of the year. https://road.cc/content/news/final-round-london-emergency-cycle-funding-announced-275357
The Mayor is being too slow and opaque on the future funding for walking and cycling. For example, in an answer his office gave me late last week, he claimed that Streetspace for boroughs would continue, but there is no reflection of this in today’s paper. https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2020/1655
When Mayor’s team spoke to the Guardian about plans for car-free areas in central London they were under impression changes would be completed within six weeks. Today’s paper now shows that many of these routes have no planned date, and none are yet delivered, two months later.
Meanwhile more evidence has come from the Netherlands linking air pollution to the worst outcomes for coronavirus. We need to act quickly to invest in alternatives to polluted, congested traffic, and make the most of the growth in walking & cycling. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/13/compelling-evidence-air-pollution-worsens-coronavirus-study
The government must support Transport for London properly, and the Mayor must be straight with Londoners, prioritising investment in walking and cycling – which is hugely effective in bang for buck – over larger scale investments. We need investment and action now.
You can read TfL paper I’ve referred to in full here, as agenda item 13: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/pic-20072020-agenda-public.pdf I will be paying particular attention to the meeting of the Programmes and Investment Committee that discusses it, and at Transport Committee next week when @WillNorman can explain.
