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Cars to be banned from half the streets in City of London

Draft Transport Strategy puts pedestrians and cyclists centre stage as City plans for next quarter century

The City of London has set out plans to remove cars from half of its streets, implement a 15 mph speed limit and encourage more people to ride bikes there by making it “safer and more pleasant” to do so.

The proposals are contained in the Draft City of London Transport Strategy, published yesterday, which sets out bold plans for a transformation of journeys in the Square Mile over the next 25 years.

The Corporation of London, which governs the City, says that 93% of commuter travel there is by public transport (84%), walking (5%) or cycling (4%), with fewer than 5% of workers driving in.

Within the City itself, walking is by far the most common way people get around, with more than three quarters of a million trips by foot every day.

Meanwhile, cyclists make up a quarter of all vehicles on the City’s streets and in some locations can account for more than 50 per cent during rush hour.

Proposals to get more people cycling include limiting motor vehicles, or even removing them altogether, on key routes at busy times as well as building protected cycle lanes, developing a cycle network throughout the City, greater provision of bike parking facilities, and the implementation of the British Cycling-led Turning The Corner campaign.

The Draft Transport Strategy is due to be approved by the City’s Planning and Transportation Committee on 30 October with the final document, following consultation,to be submitted for adoption in March next year.

It says: “We want the range of people choosing to cycle to match the diversity of people who live, work and study in or visit the City.”

“Most people, whether they choose to cycle or not, will consider cycling to be a safe, easy and pleasant way to travel around the Square Mile.

“Reduced traffic, slower speeds and a dense network of cycle friendly streets will mean that anyone who wishes to cycle is not prevented from doing so because of concerns about safety.

“The cycle network will cater for all types of cycles, including cycles as mobility aids and cargo cycles. Different types of cycles will also be available for hire across the City, supporting more flexible cycling.

“A safer and more relaxed cycling experience will in turn encourage safer and more relaxed cycling behaviour that reflects the priority given to people walking on the City’s streets.”

The Draft Transport Strategy also envisions pedestrian priority zones where cars, vans, buses and taxis would be banned except for access, including in the areas around Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations.

The Corporation of London has already banned all traffic other than bicycles and buses from the roads around Bank Junction between 7am and 7pm on weekdays,

Chris Hayward, the chairman of the City of London’s planning and transportation committee, said: “This is an ambitious piece of work, but the City of London is a unique district. With over 480,000 workers  commuting into the Square Mile on a day-to-day basis, these are some of the busiest streets in London and we need to be open for business.”

Simon Munk, infrastructure campaigner at London Cycling Campaign, told the Evening Standard: “We’re very excited by the plans, which stand in stark contrast to some of their city neighbours.

“It is a complex issue but it’s about designing the right spaces for the right mix of people, so we don’t end up with lots of pedestrian priority where there needs to be space for cyclists.

“The streets must be designed to encourage people to move and interact calmly,” he added.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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15 comments

Avatar
Legs_Eleven_Wor... | 5 years ago
0 likes

15 mph limit, eh? 

Another one that >80% of drivers can blithely ignore. 

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/84-of-drivers-fail-to-obey-20m...

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I love my bike | 5 years ago
0 likes

What will/could/might a 15mph speed limit achieve, as latest DOT GB figures (for 2016-17):

On 20mph roads (under free flow conditions - which may not be typical of most 20 mph roads), 86% of cars exceeded the speed limit.

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OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
3 likes

I can't for the life of me think why anyne would ever want to drive into the City of London anyway. But it's a welcome start.

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Chris Hayes | 5 years ago
3 likes

Chapeau to the City of London: I'm sure the timescale will come in.  It's high time that other UK cities followed this lead, including other central London boroughs.

Bank Junction is a joy these day - not a crappy diesel engine in sight.  Now all we need is to extend it to the lorry park that sits beside the Embankment Super Highway.  A GBP1,000 per day access fee should do it with 'last mile' electric only delivery vehicles between 7pm and 7am. 

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Prosper0 | 5 years ago
2 likes

Twenty. Five. Year. Plan. 

They may as well promise the moon. 

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DaveE128 | 5 years ago
3 likes

Sounds good, apart from the timescale - long enough to make no action necessary in current politicians' terms!  2

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to DaveE128 | 5 years ago
4 likes

DaveE128 wrote:

Sounds good, apart from the timescale - long enough to make no action necessary in current politicians' terms!  2

The City's policians are a bit different though - or at least their voters are. Most votes are cast by businesses (there aren't very many people living there, especially compared to the scale of in-commuting flows).

I would guess lots of businesses have been involved behind the scenes - and even the high rollers ride to work there these days!  1

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BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
2 likes

That's the thing, it's 'city of london', if only this was 'London', THAT would make a huge shift in how people live their lives in the capital and it would be massively better. That £30Billion they pissed away on a limited train system, they could have built a proper 6metre wide east to west cycle motorway for 10% of that and had a triple increase in cycle journeys compared to the trains maximum capacity (which will be reached in 3 or 4 years anyhow).

Reaching the CoL is still going to be wank so not seeing that this will have much if any impact but I suppose small acorns etc.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
3 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

That's the thing, it's 'city of london', if only this was 'London', THAT would make a huge shift in how people live their lives in the capital and it would be massively better. That £30Billion they pissed away on a limited train system, they could have built a proper 6metre wide east to west cycle motorway for 10% of that and had a triple increase in cycle journeys compared to the trains maximum capacity (which will be reached in 3 or 4 years anyhow).

Reaching the CoL is still going to be wank so not seeing that this will have much if any impact but I suppose small acorns etc.

the cliche is that London is a collection of villages, which is fairly true in that you can easily identify more-or-less self-contained, relatively small areas with their own specific identities, connected by so-called strategic roads. The City is probably the most obvious example of this. What this decision does is show that these 'villages' can, if they really want to, take action individually to make themselves more liveable without having to wait for the whole of Greater London to do something together.

 

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Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
0 likes

Sounds heaven for moped criminals.

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Dnnnnnn replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
8 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Sounds heaven for moped criminals.

I'm guessing you're a glass-half-full kinda guy... 

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janusz0 replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
3 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Sounds heaven for moped criminals.

It's already heaven (and a haven) for financial criminals. It's a shame that only the moped criminals get banged up.

However, anything that makes it easier to cycle through the city is always welcome.

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srchar | 5 years ago
4 likes

This sounds great!

...although it'll only improve the last half-mile of anyone's journey to work.  The rest will be on choked A-roads or potholed backstreets reduced to singletrack due to cars parking on both sides.

...and, unless good care is taken at the design stage, peds will find it even easier to step into your path while staring into a mobile phone.

...and, if there's a huge uptick in cycling, there'll be nowhere for everyone to park their bikes; there's already a waiting list in most office buildings.

It's a start.

Avatar
Crippledbiker | 5 years ago
11 likes

Inb4 Westminster takes legal action to block it...

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Jem PT replied to Crippledbiker | 5 years ago
0 likes

Crippledbiker wrote:

Inb4 Westminster takes legal action to block it...

Westminster (or RBKC who are more anti-bike) can't block it. The decision is entirely down to the City of London.

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