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Healthy Streets News, Issue 8

In this issue:

1. HSS writes to London councils for action on Bus Priority

2. Mapping Controlled Parking Zones

3. New LTNs planned

4. Borough round-up – check out healthy street action in London boroughs

5. Healthy Streets Scorecard update – volunteer opportunity

6. New research, news, reports and blogs – including media links to ATA’s LTN study, Census 2021 and DVLA 2022 Q3 car ownership data

7. Coalition news – updates on what our partner groups are doing

  • London Cycling Campaign’s new Cycle Buddies platform
  • London Living Streets campaign to improve junctions
  • Possible Car Free Visions Tooting event
  • Sustrans in London report on economic benefits of active travel
  • RoadPeace ‘When Lives Collide’ exhibition
  • Action Vision Zero join the HSS coalition

HS Scorecard writes to London boroughs for action on Bus Priority

Bus journeys which are reliable, quick & free from congestion are vital to increase bus ridership, which is why we’ve advised London councils that from this year we will include a ‘bus priority’ score in the Scorecard.

Our 2022 bus priority data showed most of the priority score for a borough is delivered by bus lanes. In some boroughs, LTNs also provided a contribution.

From our mapping we calculate the % of the bus routes in each borough that have been given priority over other motor traffic through bus lanes, bus ‘gates’, (e.g. Bishopsgate, or in LTNs such as Waltham Forest’s Orford & Francis Roads) or bus-specific traffic lights at junctions.

Among Inner London boroughs, Hackney, Islington & Lambeth, 40% to 50% of routes are prioritised; in Haringey, Lewisham, Wandsworth & Camden 30% are prioritised; but only 20% of routes are prioritised for buses in Tower Hamlets & Westminster, & just 5% in Kensington & Chelsea.
Among Outer London boroughs, Ealing, Barking & Dagenham, Merton, Waltham Forest, Hounslow, Brent & Greenwich score well with between 10-20% priority. But many boroughs have little or no priority for buses: Bexley, Bromley, Redbridge, Barnet and Sutton all have under 5% priority.
View all HS Scorecard 2022 Bus Priority data.

In our letter to London councils we highlighted that boroughs can see how they compare to each other, explained what bus priority looks like and pointed to TfL’s Bus Action Plan which identifies priority locations for bus interventions.

We want to see all London boroughs take action on Bus Priority.
Read more

TfL's Bus Action Plan: Priority locations for bus interventions. Image credit: TfL

Mapping London’s Controlled Parking Zones

The Healthy Streets Scorecard alongside mapping extraordinaire Will Petty (@Microlambert on Twitter), have embarked on a mapping project to map all the Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) of every London borough. This is to provide a thorough update to our CPZ indicator for the 2023 Scorecard which previously relied on data from AppyWay.

So far 78% of boroughs are mapped with just Barnet, Bexley, Croydon, Havering, Richmond, Sutton and Tower Hamlets yet to, or unable to, provide geographic information system (GIS) data.

Previously the CPZ score was based on the proportion of a borough’s roads under some form of controlled parking. This year, we will reduce the score by a certain percentage (to be decided) where permit schemes allow residents to park in other parts of the borough (i.e. not in a small zone near their home) as we believe this does not discourage drivers from making short trips by car in the same way that small-area CPZs do. This reflects our policy to promote borough-wide, ‘small-area’ CPZs. We currently think this will affect three boroughs which previously scored 100% – Kensington & Chelsea, Islington and Tower Hamlets, and we have written to those three councils to advise them of the change.

We are excited to share this sneak preview of the map as it looks so far.

London CPZ map. Image credit: Will Petty

New LTNs planned

Hackney Council’s announcement of plans to make 75% of the borough low motor traffic (access-only to motor vehicles) is welcome news. Their local implementation plan also includes more School Streets and action on main roads. Several other London councils have also announced, or begun, new trial Low Traffic Neighbourhoods since we mapped London’s Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes for the 2022 Scorecard, these include Haringey, Islington, Lambeth, Newham and Waltham Forest.
Read more

Hackney Council's London Fields LTN. Photo credit: HS Scorecard

Borough round-up

  • Lambeth launches its Kerbside Strategy: this is the first detailed statement of its kind that we’ve seen. It starts with the premise that 94% of Lambeth’s kerbsides are either parking or managing parking (i.e. No Parking) – both of which are centred around drivers, while 60% of Lambeth households don’t have access to a car. The plan shows how Lambeth Council plans to repurpose areas of its kerbsides to represent more value to more people. Also, their Brixton Hill LTN consultation closes this Friday 3 February.
  • Islington announces that 70% of its streets will be closed to through traffic (not all traffic, as misreported by several media outlets).
  • Newham announces a sixth LTN, Capel and Woodgrange, to complete the area to the north of the Romford Road between Stratford and Wanstead Flats.
  • Also in Newham, Phase 1 of the Romford Road redesign will begin soon, including side road treatments that link in with the adjacent LTNs. This redesign will prioritise walking/wheeling/cycling and public transport.
  • Major new main road cycle route confirmed in Barnet with excellent support from councillor cohort: the A1000 cycle lane has been approved from temporary to permanent between Tally Ho corner (just south of North Finchley) and the boundary with Haringey
  • 374 on-street cycle hangars have been installed in Lambeth since September 2022. Spaces cost £42 per year (£3.50 per month) to hire. Hackney will install  further 675 by 2026, bringing their total to 1,325 (spaces cost £43.50 per year + deposit). Islington and Camden are also installing cycle hangars.
  • Wandsworth has introduced 20mph speed limits on all its residential roads and some classified roads. Kingston is introducing 20mph limits on 152 more streets (agreed unanimously within that zone) and consulting on a zonal basis for the whole borough.
  • Also with Wandsworth, their Future Streets programme contains a new Walking and Cycling Strategy, plans for a new cycle route on Burntwood Lane and expansion of School Streets to 50 per cent of local primaries by 2025.
  • Ealing is developing a Travel in Ealing Charter to outline its approach for engaging with people on future transport projects. This should feed into changing how people travel as they state “tackling the climate crisis is one of the council’s three top priorities” and “a reduction in the number of car trips would have a positive impact”.
  • Southwark is currently consulting on its Sustainable Transport Strategy (closes 5 February). Mums for Lungs recently tweeted they were “very disappointed with (the) Transport Strategy. No targets, timescale, actions. We need: (a) plan to phase out diesel, repurpose kerbside, School Streets at all feasible schools & options for main road schools.”
  • Haringey recently ran a consulation on 11 proposed School Streets for 2022/23. Lambeth has made 18 School Streets permanent, bringing their total to 20.
  • Tower Hamlets are currently consulting on plans to roll back Liveable Streets schemes in Old Bethnal Green Road & Weavers (closes 12 February) and Brick Lane (closes 19 February). Headteachers have written to the Mayor Rahman asking him to reconsider proposals, and local healthy streets campaign groups back Option 2 to retain the current schemes.
  • City of London are consulting on permanent traffic restrictions on Beech Street to all vehicles except zero-emission vehicles (closes 6 March). In parallel, they and Islington are consulting on a Bunhill, Barbican and Golden Lane LTN (closes 6 March).
  • Bexley, Bromley, Hillingdon and Harrow are refusing to sign a legal agreement allowing work to begin to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). They have served City Hall with official notice that they intend to challenge the London-wide zone in the courts. With or without agreement, TfL plan to install ULEZ signs and cameras ready for the scheme to begin on 29 August.

Healthy Streets Scorecard update

  1. LCC having taken over from CPRE London as coordinator of the Healthy Streets Scorecard.
     
  2. Volunteer opportunity: we’re looking for a Comms expert to help with communications for the London Healthy Streets Scorecard project. Someone who can bring our content and data to life and reach a wide audience. Sound like you? Apply here

New research, news, reports and blogs – including car ownership data

  • Largest study of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods by Active Travel Academy, commissioned by climate charity and coalition partner Possible, has found they reduced motor traffic. The research has been reported by BBC, The Guardian, The Standard, The Express and Forbes.
  • View a map of the latest car ownership Census 2021 data. You can delve into the stats at various levels including ‘local authority districts’ (i.e. London boroughs), ‘middle layer super output areas’ or smaller ‘output areas’ (i.e. postcodes).
  • Comparing Q2 and Q3 2022 DVLA car ownership data (see our tweet & images below) showed a slight downward trend in car ownership in nearly all boroughs with Islington down nearly 1% in a quarter. The top three borough in car ownership reduction were Islington, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea.

Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition news

London Cycling Campaign’s new Cycle Buddies platform

LCC has launched their new Cycle Buddies platform. Cycle buddies is a programme that was established by LCC members during the pandemic lockdowns as many people took to cycling. It matches volunteer experienced cyclists (helper buddies) with new or returning cyclists who would like someone to practice with and share tips.

The new platform replaces the old signup system that required a manual process to pair people. Users create a profile and new or returning cyclists can then find a helper buddy closer to their work or home to help them in the way they want, e.g. riding locally or commuting to work and by matching their own gender if they choose. Feedback, reporting concerns, and monitoring is built in to the platform.

Cycle Buddies is intended to compliment and add value to the council funded cycle skills sessions and also make it easier for participants to find and access instructors. Helper buddies can sign up on the profile now and once there is a user base, inexperienced cyclists will be able to create their profile on the new platform.

Learn more about Cycle Buddies

Photo credit: London Cycling Campaign

London Living Streets campaign to improve crossings

London Living Streets is continuing to campaign for improved crossings in London and is asking for information about all those crossings that are missing an arm (i.e. green person crossing) on one or more arms of the junction.

There is more info about the campaign in this blog post: Is your crossing missing an arm? and if you have a junction with an arm missing please email London Living Streets with info about it at: londoncrossings@gmail.com

Suggestions will be passed on to TfL.

Possible Car Free Visions Tooting event

On the 30th of January, Possible unveiled their visions of a car free Tooting Broadway Junction to a group of local residents, local councillors and campaigners, some of whom participated in their design workshops.

Tooting Broadway Junction lacks greenery and is one of London’s most dangerous junctions. It’s a built-up area, with overcrowded narrow pavements and no space for people to gather. These visions aim to change that and inspire people to push for a more equitable Tooting.

If you would like to see Car Free visions become a reality, you can find out how.

Tooting Broadway Vision. Image credit: Possible

Sustrans in London report on economy-boosting benefits of active travel

Sustrans recently published a report on the value of walking, wheeling and cycling to the economy which estimates it’s worth as £36.5 billion per annum. 

RoadPeace’s 30th anniversary ‘When Lives Collide’ exhibition

To mark the 30th anniversary of RoadPeace, the charity recently ran an intimate and powerful photography exhibition, ‘When Lives Collide’ at the Gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf. The exhibition was intended to run until January 17th, but it was so popular that it was extended. RoadPeace are hoping that the photography exhibition will be able to tour the country and overseas. You can learn more details about the photographs by reading the RoadPeace post. 

Action Vision Zero join the Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition

Action Vision Zero, the campaign for safer, people-friendly streets and roads, has joined the London Boroughs Healthy Streets Scorecard (HSS) coalition. The Action Vision Zero campaign believe that what works to reduce and eliminate casualties is already well known, and they aim to make this knowledge freely available to campaigners. Read our blog post.

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