News from Darren Johnson (past staff): Outer London cut out of Mayor’s cycling revolution - Darren Johnson AM

Boris Johnson has spent just one fifth of the capital’s cycling budget in outer London since 2008, despite the suburbs having more than half the population and the highest potential for extra cycling journeys.

A new report by Darren Johnson, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, entitled ‘Outer London’s Lost Cyclists’ also reveals:

• The Mayor’s flagship projects overwhelmingly benefit the centre - just five of the nineteen outer London boroughs will have had any junctions improved or any superhighway, quietway or mini Holland completed in them by May 2016
• The future of London’s cycling programmes in Outer London hangs in the balance as Boris Johnson will leave most of his schemes to be finished by the next Mayor

Darren’s report makes a number of recommendations that should be taken forward if cycling is to grow in outer London:

• The Mayor should seek powers from government to assume control of borough roads where local councils block plans for cycle superhighways
• An ambitious London-wide cycling target must be set, as well as appropriate goals for each borough, taking into account population growth and local cycling potential
• London’s Mayor must boost cycling funding in the next TfL business plan, the money coming from its reserves, and stop underspending the cycling budget

Download the report here

Darren commented,

“We are now seeing some top quality cycle lanes in parts of central London and that is very welcome, but people who want to cycle in outer London have had a raw deal while Boris Johnson has been in office. He delayed and cancelled the superhighways he promised to link outer London communities with the centre, and he failed to make the big intimidating junctions safer for cyclists.”

“We know that millions of short suburban car trips could be made by bike instead, freeing up road space, cleaning up the air and making people fitter. This Mayor dithered for years, then finally started to build some quality schemes such as the Waltham Forest mini Holland. The next Mayor must expand this programme and complete all of the superhighways and quietways in the pipeline to kick start an outer London cycling revolution.”