Boris Johnson announces recipients of £100m cycle fund

Three London boroughs to receive up to £30 million each for work to increase uptake of cycling in the capital

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced the recipients for around £100 million in funding for the ‘mini-Hollands’ cycling programme.

Funding has been awarded to London boroughs to boost cycling uptake in the capital

Enfield, Kingston and Waltham Forest have been selected to receive up to £30 million in funding each for changes that will help to make cycling on the roads easier and safer for residents.

In Kingston, there are plans to create a major cycle hub outside the train station, which will also include a Thames Riverside Broadway cycle boardwalk along the banks of the River Thames.

Meanwhile in Enfield, the town centre will be completely redesigned, with segregated ‘superhighways’ and three new cycle hubs to be built.

In Waltham Forest a range of measures are to be adopted focused on improving cycling in residential areas, and the creation of ‘Hackney-style’ cycle-friendly low traffic neighbourhoods.

Shortlist

Transport for London, is to work with four other shortlisted boroughs — Bexley, Ealing, Merton and Richmond to take forward substantial parts of their bids to improve cycle routes and facilities. Elsewhere, another of the shortlisted authorities — Newham — has been invited to bid under TfL’s major schemes budget to contribute towards a £16 million plan to remove the Stratford gyratory and reshape Startford town centre.

Announcing the winning bids at City Hall yesterday (March 10), Mr Johnson said: “I have been incredibly impressed with the standard of the mini-Holland entries and by the thirst among all the finalists to transform themselves into better places for people. It has been so hard to choose between them that I have decided that all shall have prizes.

“Areas once terra incognita for the bicycle will, over time, become every bit as cycle-friendly as their Dutch equivalents – places that suburbs and towns all over Britain will want to copy.”

Changes are to be funded from the £100 million Mini- Hollands budget, other elements of the cycling budget and the TfL Major Schemes budget.

Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL said: “From the moment we launched the Mini-Holland programme we have been blown away by the ambition and scale of the proposals from boroughs across London. The proposals from the eight finalists were all of exceptional quality and we look forward to working with them all to help make town centres across London more friendly and accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.”