News and blogs

Streets across the capital will close on Sunday as part of World Car Free Day, including more than 20km of roads around Tower Bridge, London Bridge and the City of London as part of the Mayor’s Reimagine event.

Continue reading “World Car Free Day 2019: celebrate with Living Streets groups across London”

More than 20 of London’s 32 boroughs have announced a climate emergency, with many setting 2030 as a target date to achieve net zero carbon emissions. But with transport accounting for a third of UK’s carbon dioxide emissions (the large majority from road transport) and falling at a much slower rate than other sectors, councils must take bolder action on transport to meet these targets.

London Living Streets proposes a range of policies and initiatives that London boroughs can implement right now, not only to reduce GHG emissions but also to address issues around public health, air pollution, road casualties and social inequality.

Continue reading “London boroughs must act now to reduce emissions from transport. Here’s how.”

London Living Streets and London transport campaigners, London Cycling Campaign, CPRE London, RoadPeace, Sustrans and Campaign for Better Transport London have published a new scorecard that will measure London boroughs’ progress towards the Mayor’s Transport Strategy ‘healthy streets’ targets. 

Continue reading “New scorecard reveals gaps in London boroughs’ progress on healthy streets”

By Emma Griffin, vice-chair, London Living Streets

Low-traffic neighbourhoods can be life-changing for the residents who live in them. Since the neighbourhood improvements in Walthamstow Village in 2015, people are walking and cycling more, children play out, air pollution has improved and life expectancy increased. Continue reading “Evaporating traffic? Impact of low-traffic neighbourhoods on main roads”

Islington Council is consulting on proposals for new electric vehicle charging points. Most of these are proposed to be on the pavement to the detriment of pedestrians and especially those with visual impairments, wheelchair users, and parents and carers pushing buggies. As ever, motorists seem to come first, despite the council’s frequent references to pedestrian priority.

Deadline for consultations on 19 new charge points closes on 12 July 2019. Respond here.  

London Living Streets has argued that there should be a hierarchy of locations: off street first; then in a build-out on the road; and finally and in the last resort on the pavement.

London Living Street’s EV Infrastructure Checklist is available here. 

The Mayor’s EV Infrastructure Delivery Plan also considers how EV charge points can reduce their “streetscape impact” by being installed on the carriageway or off street in “residential hubs”.

Islington has subverted the hierarchy, filling our streets with Source London chargers which have a bright light and make an irritating noise.  Amazingly, the Council will more or less install a charging point on demand: ‘We will do our best to install charging points where there is known demand but it not always possible due to technical constraints,”  the Council states. But technology is changing all the time, which means residents of the borough will be left with redundant chargers littering the pavements for decades.

Electric Vehicles are presented by the car industry as the ‘green option’, but they still produce dangerous levels of particulates, congestion, endanger the lives of pedestrians, encourage the obesity epidemic and dominate our streets. Parents will not want their children to walk and cycle to school while these conditions continue.

If only walking and cycling schemes were rolled out as quickly.

 

Join a cycle round pioneering parklets in Islington and Hackney as part of London’s National Park City festival on Wednesday July 21st 2019.

Be inspired by what can be done in just the space taken up by one car; somewhere to sit, chat, think, enjoy a coffee or admire a tiny piece of paradise in our crowded urban environment. Talk to the creators to find out more. Bring cakes to share!

Where will you YOU create your own parklet?

Book your place on Eventbrite here.

More about London Living Street’s ground-breaking parklet campaign is here.

(Children welcome but please only with a responsible adult.)

By Emma Griffin, vice-chair, London Living Streets

Last week, the Mayor of London’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Taskforce set out its plans to expand London’s electric vehicle charging network.

Unfortunately the Delivery Plan’s main focus is the automotive industry, or “initiatives to remove barriers and improve the conditions for accelerating investment” and growth in the EV sector.  Continue reading “London needs a transport revolution, not an electric one”

Almost three-quarters of deaths and serious injuries to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists in London occur at junctions. Unsafe or inconvenient crossings result in significant non-compliance by vulnerable road users – sometimes over 50% – leading to more collisions and injuries.

Continue reading “Good design for junctions and crossings”

Something important has just happened. On April 29, London’s think tank, the Centre for London, launched the first ever, detailed proposal on why and how road user charging should be introduced in London. Read its excellent report here: Green Light: Next Generation Road User Charging for a Healthier, more Liveable London.  Continue reading “Will the next Mayor of London commit to per-mile road user charging?”