We thank Caroline Pidgeon (Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Chair of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee and Deputy Chair of the Police and Crime Committee) for raising the following question with the Mayor of London (and to Ian Wingrove, Green Group Press Liaison Officer for distilling and passing on the information).
The LIP is the Local Implementation Plan (LIP), a statutory plan setting out how Croydon Council intends to implement the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy within the borough. The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has signalled his wish to see 5% of all journeys in the capital to be made by bicycle. Right now in Croydon its about 1%, half of the average across London as a whole.
We’ll be raising this matter with the Council at its Cycle Forum meeting on Tuesday, 6 November.
Croydon LIP funding proposals
Question No: 2834 / 2012
Caroline Pidgeon
Croydon council is using less than one per cent of its LIP funding for cycling projects. Are you convinced that this is an appropriate level of funding to support your objectives to promote cycling in London and for one of your biking boroughs?
Written response from the Mayor
While a borough must be able to demonstrate clearly how it is using LIP funding to meet my Transport Strategy objectives, the detail of the schemes are for the borough to determine in consultation with its residents and other key stakeholders. That said, TfL works closely with borough colleagues on the development and delivery of their schemes to try to achieve the widest range of benefits.
I can reassure you that Croydon’s commitment to cycling runs much deeper than its ‘cycling’ schemes alone. Many of the schemes in the Borough’s proposed programme contain measures that will be of benefit to cyclists, as well as other road users, whether directly by improving safety and access at junctions and along busy roads as part of wider traffic management measures, or through creating more cycle (and walking) friendly environments through streetscape and public realm improvement schemes.
The Borough has also secured separate funding to deliver in partnership with Sustrans an east/west cycle route as part of Sustrans’ Connect2 initiative. In the longer term, there are a number of master plans and high level planning proposals that aim to transform the look and feel of central Croydon and address current problems of traffic dominance and community severance. In the light of this, I believe there are solid grounds for optimism that provision for cyclists in Croydon is changing for the better.
Caroline Pidgeon
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