If you work, live, visit or pass through the City of London you have until Tuesday 3rd April to fill in the City Streets Survey. Remember to be bold in asking for a major reallocation of road space to pedestrians and cyclists, and closing many roads to through-traffic.
The results from the survey will inform the long-term Transport Strategy for the City. This will set out how streets and transport will be managed to ensure the Square Mile remains a great place to work, live, invest and visit. The Strategy will be published in Spring 2019.
More detail about the Strategy is available on the City of London website. This includes detailed analysis of traffic in the City with some enlightening statistics on the current (mis)allocation of space. For example, pedestrians currently account for 51% of all people on streets in the City, but use just 9% of the space.
The number of cars in the City has fallen (cars accounted for 28% of traffic in 2017, down from 41% in 1999) and cycling has risen (bikes made up 26% of traffic in 2017, up from 4% in 1999) . Of the cars in the City, very few are now personal vehicles. Yet taxis still take 53% of space, whilst carrying just 19% of people. The number of people killed or seriously injured has also increased in the last three years.
As the City of London Corporation says, ‘the demands on City streets are increasing due to significant growth, fast-moving technological development and changing travel habits. Streets must be public spaces as well as helping the movement of people and vehicles. With limited space available, the City Corporation must decide how to prioritise how the streets are used.’
As part of its initial engagement with City workers, residents and businesses, the Corporation has held a number of workshops in recent weeks. The summary notes from the workshop attended by London Living Streets members in March are available here.
Image: Flickr, Andrew Milligan Sumo
London Living Streets 