Mayor must use powers to get climate action on London borough streets

Siân Berry AM has published new borough-by-borough data showing recent bids from boroughs and Transport for London (TfL) investment in each area from 2023-25. 

Siân’s report sets out exactly how the Mayor has allowed boroughs to fall behind on achieving his own transport strategy, despite having legal power to compel them to implement his targets.  

The new data illustrates which boroughs are not delivering cycle networks, residential cycle parking and bus priority at the speed required to meet the Mayor’s climate goals.  

The key findings are:  

• Two thirds of analysed spending was allocated to outer London 

• Inner London boroughs are receiving only just over half the funding they bid for  

• Despite higher funding in outer London, there are still many boroughs with no strategic cycle network 

Rooted in the Mayor’s clear legal standing via the Greater London Authority (GLA) Act of 1999 to reject any borough transport proposal not in line with his own Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS), the report urges the Mayor step in and stop councils from slowing down progress on transport in London. 

Ultimately, Siân’s report crystallises the disparity between the Mayor’s public climate commitments and his failure to ensure his own transport strategy lives up to those same commitments.  

Green Party London Assembly Member Siân Berry AM said: 

“The data doesn’t lie: the Mayor has clearly failed to use his power to use his powers to direct lagging boroughs to better support his Transport Strategy. 

“Every Londoner, no matter their borough, deserves to live in a community with adequate bus lanes, accessible cycle parking, safe streets, and the many more transport elements their mayor has promised. 

“I hope the Mayor, this Government, and the next will use my report’s evidence to make sure London achieves its vital targets for improving public health, reducing road danger and combatting climate change. This means using powers that are there to make sure we achieve our targets.” 

The Winning better Borough transport plans report’s full recommendations are:  

1. Climate emergency updates to the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and guidance: the Mayor must rapidly update the 2018 Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) and his guidance to boroughs, in order that boroughs can plan for action on the ground beyond March 2025, and so that London can meet its 2030 climate target, which was committed to after the MTS was agreed. This update needs to bring forward TfL’s 2041 mode share target and provide more detailed proposals and timetables for bus priority, cycleways, low-traffic areas and traffic-free town centres to be rolled out. 

2. A new MTS: the Mayor should set out a timetable for a new MTS, taking into account the need for comprehensive and integrated action on climate, road danger and air pollution beyond 2030. The new MTS needs to be finalised by 2028, and should include new areas of focus, including adapting to climate risks such as extreme weather, and post-pandemic economic changes. 

3. Boroughs should disclose in a standardised and transparent format their expected investment, expected and actual annual income relating to transport, including parking revenue surpluses, developer contributions, and reserves. Alongside this, they should report on the delivery of measures to support key modes of travel and other MTS objectives, as well as expected consultation and completion dates for significant schemes. 

4. The Mayor should use this information from boroughs to publish clear and comprehensive dashboards for the public, showing maps with details of borough and TfL delivered and planned schemes, alongside income, funding and spending data.  

5. Borough implementation plans should only be approved if they are sufficient to deliver on London-wide targets and all aspects of the MTS, including allowing contingency for delivery risks.  

6. Where borough plans or delivery are inadequate, the Mayor should intervene early and use all the powers available to him under the GLA Act 1999.   

7. Government must also play its part by setting out longer term funding plans for capital investment in London’s transport infrastructure. This will provide support for the delivery of new homes, health improvements and many other benefits to wider national missions and targets, as called for by the National Infrastructure Commission.  

8. The Mayor should maximise funding for borough plans in the short term, then set out long-term guaranteed funding streams, once there is clarity about income from Government, and from TfL’s own plans, including revenue from fares and road charging. 

In the latest round of funding Tower Hamlets had no reviewed bid, amidst a controversial programme of removing existing safer neighbourhoods schemes. Sian Berry wrote to the Mayor in October pressing him to use his legal powers to step in, and last week wrote again, warning the Mayor that his failure to act was potentially challengeable in court. [1]  

Find a copy of the full Winning better Borough Transport Plans report.