London allocates £85.9 million to liveable streets revamp, places cycling for transport high on agenda

Transport for London has today announced a £85.9 million fund to transform the UK capital’s town centres and neighbourhoods to become more liveable spaces, with walking and cycling at the heart of the “Healthy Streets” approach.

The Liveable Neighbourhoods programme now invites boroughs to bid for the funding, with those schemes that lend themselves to active transport apparently most likely to succeed.

The programme will provide grants of between £1 million and £10 million for a wide range of community-supported projects, potentially including the creation of green spaces, new cycling infrastructure, redesigned junctions and the widening of walking routes to improve access to local shops, businesses and public transport. By supporting projects which have local support, the funding will particularly target schemes that are shown to improve boroughs and reduce car trips – improving health and air quality.

Matt Winfield, Acting London Director of Sustrans, said: “The Liveable Neighbourhoods programme is an exciting opportunity for Londoners across our city to have cleaner, more attractive and healthier environments, with all the benefits that brings. Sustrans welcome this initiative as a significant step forward in creating the kind of communities that we know improve quality of life for all.”

Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing Director of Surface Transport, added: “We want London to remain a world-class city by creating more attractive, accessible, people-friendly streets where everybody can enjoy spending time being physically active. Through Liveable Neighbourhoods we are keen to ensure that local communities are at the centre of plans to transform access to walking, cycling and public transport in their local area. With the public’s support we hope people will think twice about jumping in the car for short journeys, improving health and reducing air pollution – two key elements which we believe will make a difference to the lives of Londoners.”