MD2824 Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure Programme

1.1. The London Recovery Board, chaired by the Mayor of London and the Chair of London Councils, has set out a programme for the capital’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that seeks to build back better and make London a fairer, more equal, greener and more resilient city. Accelerating the delivery of a cleaner, greener London is one of the Board’s five key outcomes for the recovery programme.

1.2. As part of the recovery programme, the Green New Deal Mission, jointly developed by the Greater London Authority and London Councils, aims to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and improve air quality by doubling the size of London’s green economy to accelerate job creation for all. The four overarching objectives of this Mission are to:

• improve London’s natural environment, improve air quality, and tackle the climate and ecological emergencies
• promote and incentivise activities that sustain and grow London’s green economy
• prioritise interventions reducing health inequalities and social injustices
• engage Londoners and businesses in the journey to become a zero-pollution and greener city.

1.3. Making London’s public realm greener, enhancing and improving access to green spaces, and increasing the capital’s preparedness for, resilience to and recovery from the impacts of a changing climate are critical to achieving the aims of the Green New Deal Mission. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated more than ever the importance of green infrastructure for Londoners’ wellbeing, reinforcing the extensive existing evidence base.

1.4. It has, however, also highlighted the inequalities and inequities in access to green space. Half of London’s households are in areas of deficiency of access to green space , with Londoners on low incomes and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Londoners much more likely to live in these locations. The Mayor’s programme since 2016 to improve London’s green infrastructure has already supported 280 green space and tree planting projects, improving over 400 hectares of green space. The Green New Deal Mission provides an opportunity to further tackle these inequalities and inequities, moving towards the Mayor’s ambition for no Londoner to live more than a 10-minute walk from a green space. In high-density areas of London, it will not always be possible to create significant new parks and open spaces. Therefore, there is a need to look creatively at ways to bring the benefits of green space to the people who need it most.

1.5. London’s green infrastructure is also vital for enhancing the capital’s resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Increasing and enhancing our green and blue spaces (such as rivers, canals, lakes and other water features) can help to reduce flood risk, keep the city cooler by reducing the urban heat island effect, provide shade, improve water quality, and promote active travel through walking and cycling. Climate change will disproportionately affect those least able to respond quickly and recover from it, including Londoners on low incomes, older people and children – groups also severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic – and those with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, etc. The impacts of climate change are also unevenly distributed across the city, with neighbourhoods with income and health inequalities, and high concentrations of vulnerable populations at greater risk.

1.6. Providing the greener, better-connected and more climate-resilient public realm needed to meet the objectives of the Green New Deal will require increased capacity and skills at every level. Developing green-space skills will be a core part of the Green Skills Academy proposals, building on the recommendations made by his London Green Spaces Commission.

1.7. This MD seeks the Mayor’s approval to spend £4m in 2021-22 on a Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure programme. This includes the following budget:

• £3m (revenue) approved in the 2021-22 GLA Mayoral Budget 2021-22 as part of the Green New Deal Mission (under cover of MD2795) for “Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure”
• £1m (capital) repurposed from the Drinking Water Fountains ‘Plastic Bottles’ budget approved under cover of MD2690 and MD2415 (this is due to cost efficiencies achieved in the delivery of this programme)

1.8. This will form part of the overall package of measures supporting the enhancement of London’s green spaces and improving its climate resilience as part of the Green New Deal Mission. A further £4m is proposed to be spent on the programme subject to future budget approvals for those financial years, with expenditure of £3.1m in 2022-23 and of £0.9m in 2023-24.

1.9. The programme will comprise two elements as set out below:

• A £4m Green and Resilient Spaces Fund, delivered by the GLA Environment and Energy Team, building on lessons learned from the Green Capital Fund. This will focus on innovative enhancements to green and blue spaces (such as rivers, canals, lakes and other water features), and the wider public realm to strengthen climate resilience, increase biodiversity, improve accessibility, build green skills and help reduce health inequalities. This Decision Form seeks approval for expenditure of £0.2m in 2021-22. Subject to GLA budget process for those financial years, it is anticipated that a further £2.9m will be spent in 2022-23 and £0.9m will be spent in 2023-24.
• A £4m Green and Healthy Streets Fund delivered in partnership with TfL. The focus will be on projects that redesign streets to: integrate green infrastructure; enable more active travel; or improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions and enhance their climate resilience. This Decision Form seeks approval for expenditure of £3.8m in 2021-22 (£2.8m revenue and £1m capital expenditure). It is proposed that the Fund is delivered by TfL and that the funding is transferred to it by means of a grant under sections 120 (capital) and/or 121 (revenue) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act). Subject to the GLA budget process for 2022-23 it is anticipated the remainder (£0.2m) is transferred in 2022-23, completing expenditure from a GLA perspective. The funding would be disbursed by TfL on its own roads (TLRN) or distributed by TfL to boroughs with the funding being completed by March 2023.
• Green and Resilient Spaces Fund

1.10. The Green and Resilient Spaces Fund will be managed as a competitive grants programme, open to local authorities and civil society organisations. It will be modelled on our previous Green Capital programme but will be managed through the GLA Open Project System. It will follow a two-stage application process, opening in July 2021 with an initial expression-of-interest stage that will run until September, followed by the submission of full applications by December. Development funding will be awarded at stage 1 in October 2021 with a one-year delivery period. Project funding would be awarded by February 2022, with a two-year delivery period. Projects will need to provide at least 30 per cent match funding (a proportion of which can be in-kind).

1.11. The £4m Green and Resilient Spaces Fund will be allocated as follows:

• £3.6m for projects to be completed by March 2024:
  • grants of between £250,000 and £750,000 expected to support a total of 10-12 projects
• £0.4m development funding:
  • grants of up to £50,000 expected to support up to eight projects
  • £40,000 of the development funding budget to be allocated to projects needing expert advice and support to ensure delivery of exemplar projects using the expertise of the Mayor’s Design Advocates.

Green and Healthy Streets Fund

1.12. The Green and Healthy Streets Fund will be delivered in partnership with TfL. TfL’s Streetspace programme has used innovative approaches to create more space for active travel during the COVID-19 pandemic through the introduction of temporary measures to make it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle and make use of public transport. This will also help to keep London’s air as clean as possible. These measures include Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, temporary walking and cycling routes, pedestrianised streets, and School Streets. As London begins to recover from the pandemic, there is a unique opportunity to consider making successful schemes permanent where there is an appropriate justification to do so, following due public consultation and consideration of impacts and benefits on a project by project basis, while also embedding wider environmental benefits into their design. This approach also has the potential to influence future permanent schemes by demonstrating best practice.

1.13. TfL will administer and deliver the Green and Healthy Streets Fund in close collaboration with the GLA. It is proposed that the funding for the programme (£3.8m in 2021-22 and, subject to budget confirmation, £0.2m in 2022-23), is transferred to TfL by means of a mixture of capital and/or revenue grants under sections 120 and/or 121 of the GLA Act. At the time of writing, the proposed capital/revenue split is £1m capital expenditure, and £3m revenue expenditure. However, the exact final capital/revenue split may vary and so it is proposed that the Mayor delegates authority to the Executive Director of Good Growth in consultation with the Executive Director of Resources to determine whether the grants are to be capital or revenue. It is also proposed that these decisions can be taken at the appropriate time by these Executive Directors without the need for a Decision Form.

1.14. It is anticipated that the amount of funding allocated to individual projects delivered through the programme would have a value of between £250,000 and £500,000. Flexibility will be retained to maximise the delivery of benefits. In common with all TfL programmes, TfL staff costs for time spent on the programme will be part of the budget.

1.15. Additional projects in this area are covered under MD2827 Inclusive Green Space and Climate Resilience programme, including a community greening and climate adaptation grants scheme (“Grow Back Greener Fund”), and the Schools Climate Resilience Programme. A further Mayoral Decision on skills and capacity building will come forward in the next few months. Collectively, these programmes support key aims within the London Environment Strategy and Green New Deal Mission, including to:

• reduce inequalities and inequities in access to quality local green spaces, with a focus on improving access for the most vulnerable and at-risk Londoners, especially those communities most affected by the pandemic
• protect and improve the quality of existing green spaces so that they are more inclusive, more climate-resilient, more connected and more biodiverse
• enhance the climate resilience of the wider public realm by implementing measures that address issues such as water scarcity, flood risk, heat risk and the promotion of active travel.

1.16. In addition, the Green and Healthy Streets Fund aligns with the Healthy Streets approach in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and will also support delivery of the following Green New Deal priorities:

• resilient, London-wide cycling and walking routes
• zero emission zones and neighbourhoods.
  

Objectives

2.1. The two projects set out in this Mayoral Decision will be expected to contribute to the four overarching objectives of the Green New Deal Mission which are to:

• improve London’s natural environment, improve air quality, and tackle the climate and ecological emergencies
• promote and incentivise activities that sustain and grow London’s green economy
• prioritise interventions reducing health inequalities and social injustices
• engage Londoners and businesses in the journey to become a zero-pollution and greener city.

2.2. The Green and Resilient Spaces Fund’s objectives are to:

• enhance London’s green and blue spaces and make the built environment greener to help the capital adapt and respond to the climate and ecological emergencies. This may include creating or enhancing habitats for biodiversity, reducing flood and heat risks, or providing shade
• support innovative public space projects that primarily deliver climate resilience and greening outcomes, but also contribute to air quality and active-travel objectives
• address the environmental and health inequalities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritising interventions that target the areas of highest need due to climate vulnerability and multiple deprivation, and that benefit the communities most impacted by the pandemic
• build capacity and green skills as part of the Mayor’s Green New Deal ambition to double the green economy in London.

2.3. The Green and Healthy Streets Fund’s objectives are to:

• enhance London’s streets to integrate green infrastructure; enable more active travel; or otherwise improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions, and strengthen their climate resilience
• support exemplar street-improvement projects in an integrated manner through permanent interventions
• address the environmental and health inequalities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritising interventions and supporting measures in areas of highest need due to climate vulnerability, lack of access to green space and deprivation, and which benefit communities most impacted by the pandemic
• build capacity and green skills as part of the Mayor’s Green New Deal ambition to double the green economy in London.

Outcomes

2.4. The Green and Resilient Spaces Fund will support projects that deliver across the following key outcomes:

• improved access to green space to support physical and mental health, and reduce health inequalities, especially among Londoners currently lacking good access to open space
• increased resilience to the impacts of climate change, including through providing shade, reducing the risk of overheating, reducing surface water and fluvial flood risk, and conserving water resources
• improved air and water quality, and reduced exposure to air pollution
• enhanced biodiversity and ecological resilience, creation of wildlife habitat and increased tree canopy cover
• increased green skills, local community capacity and cohesion
• enhanced connectivity between green spaces, encouraging walking and cycling.

2.5. The Green and Healthy Streets Fund will support projects that deliver across the following key outcomes:

• increased climate resilience, permanent green cover, and biodiversity
• improved air quality and reduced exposure of people to air pollution
• increased active travel and improved access to green space to support physical and mental health, and reduce health inequalities
• creation of permanent green infrastructure and opportunities for informal play, especially in school streets
• improvements in safety
• increased green skills, building local capacity and community cohesion
• enhanced community engagement through co-design.

Outputs

2.6. The Green and Resilient Spaces Fund will support between 10 and 12 innovative green public-space projects that will act as exemplars of good design and management. Development funding for up to a further eight projects will also be available to support projects to get to shovel-ready stage by March 2023, helping develop a pipeline of future fundable projects.

2.7. The types of projects that the Green and Resilient Spaces Fund might fund include:

• creation of new high-quality green public spaces, especially in locations where current access is poor and where this would help reduce health inequalities
• better management of water and reduced flood risk through sustainable drainage and natural flood-management measures, local water storage and reuse, restoring waterways, and creating wetlands
• restoration and creation of wildlife habitats to help support London’s Nature Recovery Network, especially creating and restoring priority habitats including species-rich woodland and flower-rich grassland
• improvements to the accessibility of green spaces through new entrances, access routes and green connections between sites, or by opening up currently inaccessible sites
• improvements to the design of green spaces to make them more inclusive to all Londoners, especially those from communities who are under-represented in using green spaces
• improvements to streets and other public spaces by retrofitting green and climate-resilient infrastructure including sustainable drainage, trees, cool roofs and outdoor cool spaces, and pocket parks
• activation of underperforming open spaces, such as those on many of London’s housing estates (including making them more welcoming to non-residents), or poorly used amenity green spaces.

2.8. The Green and Healthy Streets Fund will support projects that redesign streets to integrate green infrastructure, to enable more active travel, or otherwise to improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions and enhance their climate resilience. This will primarily focus on projects that will consider converting temporary street repurposing measures delivered through Streetspace and other programmes into permanent exemplar interventions where there is an appropriate justification to do so, following due public consultation and consideration of impacts and benefits on a project by project basis. This could include:

• • incorporation of green infrastructure and climate-resilience measures such as street trees, sustainable drainage and de-paving into Low Traffic Neighbourhoods where they are made permanent
• • improvement of air quality and enhancement of climate resilience and biodiversity by permanently repurposing or removing road and or/parking space to reduce vehicle traffic and provide space for new climate-resilient green infrastructure, including pocket parks, street trees, green sustainable drainage and cool spaces
• • incorporation of green infrastructure and climate-resilience measures into permanent designs for currently temporary cycling and walking routes.
• 2.9. The Fund may also be applied by TfL and boroughs to support additional projects outside of the Streetspace programme that meet the objectives outlined above, for example works on the TfL Road Network, flagship cycling routes, Zero Emission Zones, pedestrian priority and Healthy Streets initiatives.
• 2.10. There has been a shift in the journeys being made by Londoners in response to the pandemic, with two in five Londoners claiming to be walking more than they did a year ago and just under half of Londoners claiming to have walked more for leisure compared to the previous 12 months. Maintaining this increase and encouraging Londoners to walk more as London recovers from the pandemic is another key output, and for this reason the fund will also include projects to improve existing strategic walking routes such as the London Loop and the Capital Ring, and to create new, accessible urban greenways by connecting green spaces with active travel infrastructure.
• 2.11. Geographically, projects would predominantly reflect the locations of existing activity under Streetspace and other related programmes. Funding would be prioritised for projects focused within areas of high climate risk, incorporating both exposure and vulnerability, using the London Climate Risk dataset alongside agreed TfL criteria. A significant proportion of existing Streetspace programmes are located in areas of high climate risk.

2.12. All projects would be expected to take into consideration the following aims:

• act as exemplars of good design and management, and contribute to knowledge sharing events and resources
• support the green economy by creating and/or retaining high-quality green jobs
• provide training and skills opportunities as part of project delivery, for example through traineeships or placements
• be delivered in partnership with communities with opportunities for co-design, participation and engagement, with a focus on engaging communities that are under-represented in using green spaces
• promote accessibility for all by ensuring that the design of schemes including footways considers everyone’s needs
• include plans for long-term management, maintenance, and funding
• provide an evaluation of the project benefits including adaptation outcomes
• provide evidence of the ability to deliver on time and to budget, with appropriate risk management
• align with relevant borough strategies such as transport strategies, air-quality action plans and green-infrastructure strategies.

2.13. Table 1: Proposed budget profile

3.1. Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London, TfL, boroughs and other public bodies must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic; taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. The GLA, TfL and boroughs will be expected to comply with the public-sector equality duty concerning both schemes in their project development, approval and implementation processes.

3.2. The Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure programme outlined in this decision form stems from the policies and proposals in the London Environment Strategy (LES), which have been informed by a full Integrated impact assessment, including a consideration of equalities. The Equalities Assessment Report for the LES noted that exposure to poor environmental conditions is much higher among BAME Londoners.

3.3. Black, Asian and minority ethnic and lower-income Londoners are more likely to live in areas of deficiency of access to green space, or in areas where green-space quality is poor. GLA research has found that women, adults under-25, lower-income Londoners and social renters visit parks less often than other Londoners. National research has found that BAME people are least likely within this group to visit green spaces. Similarly, 21 per cent of households in London lack access to a private or shared garden, and across England BAME people are less likely to have access to a garden than white people.

3.4. Climate change will disproportionately affect those least able to respond and recover from it. Lower-income Londoners will find it more difficult to recover from flooding and will suffer more from the impacts of the overheating. Extreme heat events will have a greater impact on older people, very young children, socially isolated people and people with existing health conditions. Many BAME Londoners live in multi-occupancy and other homes that are not fit for London's future climate, putting them at greater risk from the impacts of climate change.

3.5. As a result, the programmes will prioritise projects that aim to tackle these disparities with particular regard to the exacerbation of health inequalities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. Improving access to green space for Londoners who currently benefit less from the capital’s green infrastructure, engaging them in the co-design of projects and helping to support climate resilience in locations where there is high exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change will also help address these disparities.

3.6. Recipients of funding will be required to outline how projects will provide environmental and community benefit. This includes information on the intended beneficiaries. They will be required to advertise their training and job opportunities, and proactively reach out to currently under-served groups where appropriate.

Key Risks and Issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1. The Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure programme aligns with the London Recovery Board’s high-level outcome to accelerate delivery of a cleaner, greener London, and the Green New Deal Mission to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and improve air quality by doubling the size of London’s green economy by 2030 to accelerate job creation for all. The programme will also support the objectives of the High Streets for All, Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Healthy Food, Healthy Weight (Healthy Food Environments strand) Missions. It complements the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 fund and could support projects within Future Neighbourhood locations. It also aligns with the following Mayoral strategies and priorities:

4.2. London Environment Strategy policies, objectives and proposals:

• Policy 4.2.1: reduce emissions from London’s road-transport network by phasing out fossil-fuelled vehicles, prioritising action on diesel, and enabling Londoners to switch to more sustainable forms of transport
• Objective 5.1: make more than half of London’s area green by 2050
• Policy 5.1.1: protect, enhance and increase green areas in the city, to provide green infrastructure services and benefits that London needs now and in the future
• Proposal 5.1.1.f: the Mayor will back greater community involvement in the improvement and management of London’s green spaces and natural environment
• Policy 8.2.1: reduce the risk, and manage the impacts, of surface water, sewer, fluvial, reservoir and groundwater flooding in London
• Policy 8.2.3: increase the amount of sustainable drainage, prioritising greener systems across London in new development, and also retrofit solutions
• Policy 8.3.1: reduce London’s water consumption and leakage rate
• Policy 8.4.1: ensure Londoners can prepare, respond to and recover from the impacts of extreme heat events in London
• Policy 8.4.4: reduce the impacts of heat on streets.

4.3. The Healthy Streets approach of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, including the following policies:

• Policy 2: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will seek to make London a city where people choose to walk and cycle more often by improving street environments, making it easier for everyone to get around on foot and by cycle, and promoting the benefits of active travel
• Policy 7: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will seek to make London’s transport network zero emission by 2050, contributing towards the creation of a zero-carbon city, and also to deliver further improvements in air quality to help meet tighter air quality standards 
• Policy 8: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will enhance London’s natural and built environment by: ensuring that transport schemes protect existing green infrastructure where possible, or – if there is a loss – providing new green infrastructure in order to deliver a net gain in biodiversity; and seeking additional opportunities to build new green infrastructure into the existing transport estate 
• Policy 10: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will use the Healthy Streets approach to deliver coordinated improvements to public transport and streets to provide an attractive whole-journey experience that will facilitate mode shift away from the car. 

4.4. In addition, the programme aligns with objectives from two other Mayoral strategies:

• Inclusive London Strategic objective 12: to work with partners to help ensure our approach to improving green spaces is inclusive
• London Health Inequalities Strategy objective 3.3 for a greener city where all Londoners have access to good-quality green spaces.

Conflicts of interest

4.5. GLA officers are not aware that anyone involved in the drafting or clearance of this form has any conflicts of interest with the proposed programme.

4.6. If any conflicts of interest arise during the delivery of the programme (i.e., a GLA officer has links with an organisation that applies for a grant) they will declare that interest and not take any part in assessing that grant application or awarding funding to that organisation.

Background

5.1. Mayoral approval is sought for expenditure of up to £8m upon the Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure programme, a combination of revenue (£7m) and capital (£1m) expenditure, which is a core part of delivering enhanced green spaces and improved climate resilience as part of the Green New Deal Mission and aligned with the London Environment Strategy.

Budgetary implications

5.2. An estimated profile of the £8m expenditure for the programme is summarised below:

5.3. The revenue expenditure for the programme will be funded from the Environment Programme budget, specifically the Climate Resilient Infrastructure budget approved as part of the 2021-22 budget setting process. It should be noted, however, that the indicative allocations for this budget was £4m per year up to the end of 2022-23. As £0.9m revenue expenditure is expected in 2023-24, this allocation will require reprofiling from the 2022-23 financial year to 2023-24. This reprofile will be built into the GLA’s spending plans as part of the 2022-23 budget setting process.

5.4. The capital expenditure of £1m scheduled for 2021-22 is be funded by redirecting capital funds previously approved under MD2690 and MD2415 for the Drinking Water Fountains programme to this programme.

5.5. As indicated above, the proportion of capital and revenue expenditure may differ on the Healthy Streets Fund and in the event more capital expenditure is required, the capital funding will be contained within the overall £8m allocation for this programme, via a revenue contribution to capital, financed specifically from the Climate Resilient Infrastructure revenue budget. There will not be a requirement for additional revenue resources other than the maximum of £7m for which approval is being sought.

5.6. It should be noted that the 2022-23 and subsequent budgets for this programme are not yet formally approved and will be subject to funding still being available via the GLA’s 2022-23 budget setting process.

5.7. To mitigate any risk of the programme not being sufficiently resourced in future years to cover costs following the budget setting and approval process, all contracts and grant agreements will include the usual break clauses that could potentially be exercised if required. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.

6.1. The Mayor may do anything that he considers will further the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London, and its social development and environmental improvement under section 30 of the GLA Act. The objectives of the Green and Resilient Spaces Fund and the Green and Healthy Streets Fund, and proposed connected expenditure, generally fall within those section 30 purposes, particularly the aspects of social and environmental development and improvement. In addition, the GLA (acting by the Mayor) may do anything that is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the GLA exercisable by the Mayor under its subsidiary powers under section 34. Under section 31 of the Act, the Mayor may not use the power in section 30 to incur expenditure on anything which may be done by TfL except for the purposes of, or relating to, housing or regeneration.

6.2. In taking the decisions requested of him, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it, and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Green and Resilient Spaces Fund

6.3. The officers must ensure that all grant funding, which is to be distributed to third parties (other than members of the GLA Group), be made in accordance with the requirements in section 12 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code.

Green and Healthy Streets Fund

6.4. Under sections 120 and 121 of the GLA Act 1999 the GLA may respectively pay capital or revenue grants towards meeting such expenditure incurred or to be incurred by TfL for the purposes of, or in connection with, the discharge of TfL’s functions. Depending on whether the grant is capital or revenue TfL may only apply towards expenditure of the same category. As the current split between capital and revenue has yet to be finalised it is proposed that the Executive Director of Good Growth in consultation with the Executive Director of Resources be granted delegated authority to determine whether the grants are to be capital or revenue. (It is proposed such decision be taken by these Executive Directors without the need for a decision form rather than following the normal requirements for approvals under the Mayoral Decision Making in the GLA framework).

6.5. TfL and the boroughs are the relevant statutory highways and traffic authorities for the TLRN and borough roads respectively, and currently implement their Streetspace and Healthy Streets programmes in those roles. The GLA may not make a section 120 or 121 grant subject to any limitation in respect of its expenditure by TfL (other than that the expenditure must be capital or revenue expenditure depending on the nature of the grant). Therefore, the grant must be spent by TfL in accordance with its statutory functions, internal governance and financial approval processes, albeit in close collaboration with the GLA. In turn, TfL may provide boroughs with funding under section 159 of the GLA Act 1999 generally, including under the LIPs funding process if appropriate.

7.1. Green and Resilient Spaces Fund

7.2. Green and Healthy Streets Fund

None