The Healthy Streets Scorecard ranks London Boroughs on how healthy their streets are according to nine indicators (four ‘outcome’ and five ‘input’ indicators). By combining the indicator scores, each borough is given a final Healthy Streets score.
This page sets out detailed results for the input indicators:
NB: Temporary filters are currently being installed in response to the Covid-19 crisis. These are not included in our data but can be tracked on Sustrans’ Space to move map of Covid-19 response measures, providing Sustrans has been made aware of them.
This measures the number of modal filters per mile of a borough’s road length. Modal filters, such as bollards, barriers or planters, prevent through motor traffic from passing through residential streets and can be used to create low traffic neighbourhoods where more people want to cycle, walk, play and spend time.
Updated data for this indicator was not available from the original source so, in May 2020, we asked boroughs to provide a figure for the total number of modal filters in the borough. 13 responses were received. A number of boroughs are installing temporary filters in response to the Covid-19 crisis e.g. Croydon is installing 11 new temporary filters but these are not included in this year’s scores.
The scores for this indicator are very low as modal filters are not being routinely used across London. All boroughs need to do much more, in particular because low traffic neighbourhoods can be introduced inexpensively and make a huge, positive impact on people’s lives. There needs to be a dramatic increase in the number of low traffic neighbourhoods across London and this must continue beyond the Covid19 response.
The boroughs with the most filters are Hackney, the City of London and Tower Hamlets. High scores in some boroughs build on historic work: Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets for example started installing modal filters decades ago. Waltham Forest stands out in Outer London following the installation of 55 modal filters since 2015 to prevent local streets being used by through motor traffic. At the other end of the scale, Bexley, Redbridge and Bromley have the fewest filters.
A number of boroughs show improved scores on this indicator though it is likely that some of these improvements reflect a correction to last year’s data. That said, we are aware that Camden, Tower Hamlets and Hackney have installed permanent modal filters recently.
Boroughs do not have targets for implementing 20mph speed limits, even though they are vital to improving road safety and making walking and cycling more attractive and are set to become more important as we move to speed limiters on all new motor vehicles from 2022 onwards. We advocate borough-wide 20mph speed limits. The overall trend is in a positive direction with four boroughs increasing their coverage of 20mph speed limits by a significant amount but a large number of boroughs have done little or nothing and have a long way to go to improve their score on this metric.
It is important to note too that TfL implemented 20mph speed limits on all Red Route roads (Transport for London Road Network, TLRN) inside the Central Congestion Charging Zone in March 2020 and has pledged to introduce 20mph limits on a further 37 locations on the TLRN in the next few years. As part of their Streetspace for London plan, a 20mph limit was introduced on the northbound carriageway of Park Lane as well as other changes to that road.
There are now 11 boroughs with over 80% of roads with a 20mph speed limit, eight over 90% and three (Islington, Southwark and Hackney) over 95%. At the other end of the scale, six boroughs have fewer than 10% of roads covered and two (Barnet and Bromley) fewer than 5%.
Merton showed the biggest increase from 45% to 69% of roads as it implements its borough-wide 20mph speed limits. Hounslow and Ealing also showed increases in their coverage of 20mph limits. A number of boroughs are likely to see significant increases next year with Richmond upon Thames currently rolling out a 20mph default limit and Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster both announcing recently that they are planning to introduce 20mph limit across their boroughs. Kingston has also undertaken a borough-wide consultation the results of which are likely to be seen in the next year. However, there are many boroughs which still have a long way to go, notably Barnet, Bromley, Hillingdon, Havering and Bexley.
The graph below shows Inner and Outer London boroughs differentiated by colour (light blue = Inner London, dark blue = Outer London). This graph helps show how boroughs are doing compared to other Inner or Outer boroughs.
There are no targets for the percentage of a borough’s roads covered by a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) even though controlled parking is essential to reducing commuter parking and ‘switchable’ car trips (those which could easily be made by walking, cycling or public transport). CPZs also have many other benefits. We advocate borough-wide controlled parking particularly around train stations, as well as other destinations like town centres and shopping streets.
There are some positive moves on this indicator with 22 boroughs showing an increase, albeit mostly small increases. No borough showed a decrease. But many boroughs still have extremely low levels of controlled parking.
Six boroughs now have 100% of roads covered by controlled parking zones, up from three last year. These are Camden, City of London, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. Hammersmith & Fulham is very close behind at 98%. Brent and Waltham Forest buck the trend for Outer London with relatively high levels of controlled parking, 64% and 51% respectively. Interestingly, both these boroughs also have high scores for sustainable modeshare i.e. fewer people are taking trips by car. At the other end of the scale, in Bromley and Sutton parking is controlled on just 9% of roads and in 15 boroughs, parking is controlled on less than a third of roads. One Inner London borough, Lewisham, is among these, with only 24% of roads controlled.
Barking and Dagenham showed the biggest increase of 8% (from 21% to 29% of borough roads). Other boroughs to make significant increases were Southwark and Islington (6% increase in both) and Enfield (5% increase). In many boroughs there was no change at all, notably Bromley and Sutton, where there was no increase in controlled parking at all despite only 9% of roads being covered by a CPZ.
The graph below shows Inner and Outer London boroughs differentiated by colour (light blue = Inner London, dark blue = Outer London). This graph helps show how boroughs are doing compared to other Inner or Outer boroughs.
NB: Temporary cycle lanes are currently being installed in response to the Covid-19 crisis. These are not included in our data but can be tracked on Sustrans’ Space to move map of Covid-19 response measures, providing Sustrans has been made aware of them.
This measures the length of cycle lane physically separated from motor vehicle traffic and pedestrians. Evidence shows that more, and a wider range of, people cycle where there is a network of safe, protected routes – and London’s main cycle tracks are extremely successful at boosting cycling numbers where they are installed.
We have not been able to obtain updated data for Protected Cycle Track and so we are publishing the most current data available (the same as last year’s scorecard) and have used this to contribute to boroughs’ overall scores.
Across London there is a total 734.2 km of protected cycle lane, including 239.2 km on the carriageway in addition to off-carriageway tracks, for example through parks.
The Scorecard measures the length of all protected track – on and off carriageway – per kilometre of road length in order to demonstrate the scale of coverage in each borough. The actual percentage of coverage of protected tracks on carriageways, however, will be much lower.*
[*The score is given as a km of protected cycle lane as a percentage of overall borough road length. However, it is important to note that the cycle tracks can be delivered both on borough-controlled roads and TfL-controlled “TLRN”/ Red Route roads, as well as off-road, for instance in parks. So while the percentages reflect the overall scale of cycle tracks each borough is delivering compared to how much roadspace there is in the borough, it doesn’t reflect a “true” percentage of road use and should not be quoted as such.]
Just a handful of councils have made significant progress installing segregated cycle lanes, often in conjunction with TfL, including City of London (16.1% of road length*), Enfield (14.4%), Tower Hamlets (13.2%), Westminster (12.5%) and Greenwich (10%).
What stands out is that protected cycle lane amounts to just 5% of road length across Greater London (again, that doesn’t mean 5% of London’s roads feature tracks*). Of course, not all streets need them, but the figures show there is a long way to go to create a comprehensive network of safe cycle routes.
This score measures protected track on both TfL and borough-managed roads which means some boroughs, such as Westminster City Council, score highly as a result of work carried out by Transport for London. But, given councils must work in consultation with TfL on protected lanes, this is still a useful indication of a council’s intent on active travel. The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for example (where just 1.3% of roads have protected lanes for cyclists) recently withdrew support for a segregated cycle lane on Holland Park Avenue and Notting Hill Gate.
There is more of an even split between Inner and Outer boroughs on this measure. The Outer London borough of Enfield, for example, has the second longest stretch of protected cycle lanes in London with 14.4% coverage. Waltham Forest has 9.1% and Hounslow 8.6%.
Conversely, London boroughs including Hackney, Islington and Haringey, that score well on other inputs are lagging behind on protected cycle track. Just 2.3% of roads in Hackney, 2.5% in Islington and 3.5% in Haringey have protected cycle lanes.
This indicator measures the amount of action in each borough on the Transport for London STARS programme and on the implementation of School Streets. These two measures are combined to create a score for the borough.
STARS accreditation ranges from ‘engaged’ through to Gold based on activities schools have undertaken to enable active travel, and the impact these activities have on how students are travelling to school. London-wide, schools have achieved 4,461 STARS ‘points’ (where Gold=4 ‘points’, Silver=3, Bronze=2, engaged=1) out of a possible maximum of 13,484. This was based on the data at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
The boroughs with the most STARS points were Bromley (60% of possible maximum for the borough) and Barnet (56%). The boroughs with the fewest points were City of London (0% of possible maximum), Barking & Dagenham (9%) and Kingston upon Thames (10%).
The graph below shows Inner and Outer London boroughs differentiated by colour (light blue = Inner London, dark blue = Outer London). This helps show how boroughs are doing compared to other Inner or Outer boroughs.
This is the first year we have collected this data so no year-on-year comparison data for STARS is available yet.
School Streets are streets leading to school gates which are closed to general traffic, at a minimum, on school days before opening and following school closing times. London-wide, 81 School Streets have been implemented. This is a small fraction of the 3,300 schools in London, but School Streets are proliferating rapidly and have been recommended as part of the package of measures boroughs implement in response to the crisis.
The three boroughs with the highest proportion of their schools on School Streets are Islington (16%), Croydon (11%) and Hackney (8%). However, with 16 School Streets in total, Croydon has the most of any London borough and indeed any local authority in the UK. At the other end of the scale, there are thirteen boroughs which have not yet implemented any School Streets.
The graph below shows Inner and Outer London boroughs differentiated by colour (light blue = Inner London, dark blue = Outer London). This helps show how boroughs are doing compared to other Inner or Outer boroughs.
This is the first year we have collected this data so no year-on-year comparison data for School Streets is available yet.
Update: Interim School Streets data (November 2020)
The number of healthy School Streets has increased in London under the Streetspace plan, with 383 installed and 68 more planned. The Healthy Streets Scorecard coaltion urges councils to make trial School Streets permanent and roll traffic-free schemes out to every primary and secondary school in the capital where possible.
For data, analysis and borough comparisons, view the Schools Streets Interim Report.