The Healthy Streets Scorecard ranks London Boroughs on how healthy their streets are according to nine indicators (five ‘input’ indicators and four ‘outcome’). By combining the indicator scores, each borough is given a final Healthy Streets score.
This page sets out detailed results for the input indicators:
4. Physically Protected Cycle Track
5. School Provision (A) STARS (B) School Streets
Plus new input indicator:
Bus Priority [to be added to 2023 Scorecard]
This has been a slower year for the roll-out of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in London’s boroughs compared to the previous year, with a focus on embedding those implemented the previous year. Since the last Scorecard, Hackney has introduced a bus gate on Stoke Newington High Street, and Islington has introduced the St Mary’s Church LTN, both under experimental traffic orders. Beyond those, new LTNs have been few and far between, and there have been reversals in some boroughs, such as Brent.
Hackney now has 70% of its residential side streets as LTNs, followed by Waltham Forest with 49%. 19 London boroughs have taken very little action on through-traffic over the years, and still have under 20% of their appropriate areas as LTN.
The last two years have seen a huge increase in LTN coverage in some boroughs: Hackney (+39 percentage point increase), Islington (+31% pt increase), Southwark (+23% pt increase) and Lambeth (+19% pt increase).
Some boroughs and local campaign groups have provided more information on areas of historic LTNs in the borough, meaning that some boroughs’ LTN scores have improved due to an improvement in the data. We include the more-recently ‘retrofitted’ LTNs, as well as LTNs which have ‘naturally’ no useful through-routes for motor vehicles, and ‘designed’ LTNs, where new housing was built deliberately without through-routes for motor vehicles. We have therefore compared pre-Covid (2020) and present-day data in our comparison chart.
In the coming year, those boroughs which have made progress in rolling out LTNs need to continue that progress. But we also need to see those boroughs which have taken very little action on LTNs, as well as those that implemented and then removed them, focus on creating healthier streets through LTNs. LTNs implemented with temporary materials need to be upgraded and finalised, in collaboration with residents. Main roads across London need to be improved, and LTNs need to be linked to each other with quality crossings and junctions.
This map shows the LTNs as of today, based on the best information available.
Notes
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.
The image below depicts the London Low Traffic Neighbourhoods by borough map* highlighting the borough boundaries (coloured orange) and LTNs (historic, in place before March 2020, – coloured mauve and new, introduced after March 2020, – coloured purple).
*Originally reproduced from Safe Cycling London map, produced by Safe Cycle London with support from the LCC
After the large-scale changes of 2021 when four boroughs moved to a default 20mph speed limit, progress has slowed down for the 2022 Scorecard. London boroughs break down into three principal blocks in relation to 20mph. Nineteen out of the 33 boroughs (including City of London) have adopted a default 20mph speed limits where more than 70% of all borough-controlled roads have a default 20mph limit.
These range from boroughs where all of the borough-controlled roads are 20mph (e.g. Westminster and Camden) to Croydon and Waltham Forest where some main roads are excluded. Another group of boroughs have 20mph limits on between 20% and 70% of their roads. Typically, these boroughs’ 20mph streets are residential roads where 20mph zones have been created mainly using traffic calming. Finally, there are six boroughs – Redbridge, Havering, Bexley, Hillingdon, Bromley and Barnet – where as few as 5% of the roads have 20mph limits (Bromley and Barnet) and where often just a handful of 20mph zones (with calming) have been introduced over the years. TfL is extremely supportive of lower speed limits and it would be relatively easy for any of these boroughs with lower levels of 20mph limits to both make their boroughs safer and at the same time improve their HSS score by moving to a default 20mph speed limit.
There has been lots of progress on 20mph limits by TfL itself. The importance and many benefits of lower speeds limits was again highlighted in the recent TfL Vision Zero Action Plan Progress Report (November 2021) and TfL has a target that by 2024, 220km of TfL roads will have a 20mph speed limit. In recent months it has made almost all the TfL-controlled roads in Westminster 20mph and, subject to funding, has plans to roll out rapidly 20mph limits across Inner and Outer London boroughs.
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.
We have not been able to update the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) data this year but thirteen boroughs told us they had changed or introduced new parking controls and this will be reflected in next year’s scores. We intend to create a London-wide map of Controlled Parking Zones in the coming year to show clearly where the gaps are. Parking is one of the most important tools boroughs have available to have an impact on the number of trips made by car and does not need major investment – so we feel boroughs which have not already done so should be planning to introduce CPZs starting for example around train stations and town centres to discourage short trips and commuter parking. This is an area which desperately needs action which could have a huge impact on the proportion of trips made by car, very quickly.
We continue to be contacted by concerned local campaigners from boroughs Kensington & Chelsea, Islington and Tower Hamlets which received maximum scores on our parking indicator, because 100% of streets in these boroughs have controlled parking but they allow residents to park anywhere in the borough – these are known as ‘roaming’ schemes. We do not support roaming: we advocate ‘small area CPZs’ borough-wide. To support our local campaigners, we are likely to consider reducing the score for these three boroughs next year and we want them to change their systems to small-area CPZs with no roaming.
We use 2021 data for the CPZ indicator.
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.
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.
A very fallow year for cycle track delivery after the incredibly rapid changes in 2020, although it is worth being aware that in quite a few cases, schemes already entered into the Scorecard were significantly upgraded in the shift from wand-protected tracks to more permanent and higher-quality approaches.
Front-running boroughs continued to deliver schemes – Camden, Hounslow, Lambeth, and Waltham Forest all managed to extend existing tracks or add new ones (and the City got a helping hand from TfL with its Mansell Street C2 to C3 link project). But the surprise numbers are for Barking & Dagenham, Kingston and Wandsworth.
In Barking & Dagenham, there wasn’t new track – but we had failed to fully add Cycleway C3 out as far as it actually runs. The quality of the scheme is low, but we have now added this oversight. In Kingston, the borough is still delivering its mini-Holland planned schemes, albeit at a slower pace than Waltham Forest. And in Wandsworth, the previous administration can take little credit for over 3km of extra track delivered, as many of the councillors in control of the borough openly campaigned for the removal of protection from TfL’s upgrade of Cycleway C8.
If climate commitments are anything to go by, boroughs will need to move forward with the kind of speed seen during the first year of the pandemic once more if they want to move towards a coherent cycling network across the borough. The Safe Cycling London map, which we use to base delivery tracking off, shows that nearly all of London remains too fragmented on safe cycling routes.
Data: total of 9.676km of new cycle track delivered in 2022.
Note: The indicator is calculated as kilometres of protected cycle lane as a percentage of overall borough road length. Cycle tracks can be delivered both on borough-controlled roads and TfL-controlled “TLRN”/ Red Route roads. 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).
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.
The image below depicts the Safe cycling in London map of the cycle network in London.
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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.
The STARS ratings for schools were updated this year, after no update in 2021. Bromley, Waltham Forest and Barnet, three outer London boroughs, are the forerunners in the scheme recognising sustainable travel to school. Alongside Haringey they all scored higher than 50% of STARS points awarded as a % of the possible maximum. The lowest scoring boroughs, all with less than 20% were Wandsworth, Hackney, Kingston, Hammersmith & Fulham and Barking & Dagenham. There were fluctuations in borough scores from 2021 to 2022 but the London average remained at 33%.
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.
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.
Islington has the highest proportion of School Streets with almost half – a huge 50% covered, taking over from Merton that had 41% in 2021. Hackney has the second-highest proportion at 45%, up from 39% in 2021, and Merton increases slightly to 42%, according to data gathered by Mums For Lungs and the Healthy Streets Scorecard. The London average for the proportion of all borough schools with traffic-free School Streets has increased from just 2% in 2020 to 19% in 2022.
There were some boroughs who had large increases in 2022 – Sutton went from 0% to 19%, Lewisham went from 24% to just under 40% – a 16% point difference, Haringey went from 12% in 2021 to 28% – also a 16% point difference, Ealing’s School Streets likewise increased with a 12% point difference, as did Islington with a 10% point difference increase.
The total number of School Streets in 2022 is 555, up from 451 in 2021 and 81 in 2020. Hackney has the most with a total of 49, followed by Lewisham on 37 and Islington on 36.
The ranking for Hammersmith & Fulham has been downgraded from 17% of schools having a School Street in 2021 to zero as the latest ‘Healthy School Streets’ programme fails to mention motor vehicles being prohibited from using the road outside school gates at specified times, and therefore does not meet the Healthy Streets Scorecard specification for a School Street. Hammersmith & Fulham now joins Bexley with the undesirable distinction of having no School Streets at all.
The Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition 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.
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.
The bus priority indicator data is published alongside the Scorecard data in 2022. It will be integrated into the final Scorecard scores from 2023.
This indicator measures the proportion of the bus routes in each borough that have been given priority over other motor traffic (through bus lanes or modal filters).
The data shows a wide variation in the proportion of bus route prioritised in each borough. Across all boroughs, most of the priority score is delivered by bus lanes. In some boroughs, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (both newly delivered and historical ones) also provide a contribution. Among the Inner London boroughs, there are three boroughs – Hackney, Islington and Lambeth – where 40% to 50% of routes are prioritised; in Haringey, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Camden around 30% is prioritised; but only around 20% of routes are prioritised for buses in Tower Hamlets and Westminster and just 5% in bottom-of-the-table Kensington & Chelsea.
Among the Outer London boroughs, Ealing, Barking and Dagenham, Merton, Waltham Forest, Hounslow, Brent and 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.
The Scorecard coalition has issued a call to action, asking boroughs and TfL to work together to introduce more bus priority measures, especially on roads which have been identified as needing urgent action, and intends to publish annual updates to the data to show where action has been taken.
From 2023, the bus priority scores will contribute to the overall Healthy Streets Scorecard scores
Our aim is to publish data showing how much action has been taken. A higher score may be allocated for action taken on sections of roads which have been identified by TfL as needing urgent action. Borough and TfL roads will be included in scores.
Mapping and data updates and corrections
The map and data are correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication but we welcome contact from anyone, including boroughs and TfL, if corrections are needed. We are aware that bus services may change and our aim is to reflect this in future years’ data and mapping. We will issue an annual call for amendments around March of each year.
The graphs 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.
The image below depicts the Bus Priority map of the bus network in London.
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