The Mayor of London today announced £160m of funding for London boroughs to spend on local transport improvements to make the Capital safer, cleaner and greener over the next year.

This money will help to make millions of daily journeys more convenient

People living, working, visiting and travelling in every London borough will benefit from a range of projects delivered by local councils during 2007/08.

This includes improved town centres, better access to stations, road renewal schemes, road safety projects, and schemes to reduce pollution though increased walking and cycling.

Since the Mayor was first elected in 2000, funding for boroughs has almost doubled - this year's allocation shows a 92 per cent increase from 1999/2000.

It is part of the record-breaking five-year £792m programme for local transport schemes included in Transport for London's £10bn Investment Programme, and is an increase on the £765m previously announced.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "People in boroughs across London, both inner and outer, are benefiting from Transport for London funding, which is providing real, local travel improvements.

"All parts of our city, from the suburbs to the centre, are supported directly through this transport investment.

"This money will help to make millions of daily journeys more convenient and pleasant whether by public transport, in a car, on foot, or by bike.

"By supporting transport spending in the boroughs over the past six years we have improved town centres, increased cycling by 72 per cent and approved more than 1000 travel plans to get children to and from school safely.

Easier journeys

"I am pleased to hear that London Councils has withdrawn its ill-thought out plan to cut funding for organisations campaigning for sustainable transport, which relieves me of the need to divert some of the funding announced today to support those organisations' valuable work.

"This u-turn will be welcomed by those who are concerned about climate change."

London's Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy said: "This money will go directly towards improving transport for people in every borough in London.

"We will fund a combination of both large and small projects and by working in partnership with each borough we know that local communities will see a difference.

"Borough funding is an important part of our wider programme of spending in all boroughs to improve public transport and make walking and cycling journeys easier and safer."

Highlights include:

  • £410,000 to support a scheme in the Streets for People programme that will complement the newly-opened Gillett Square public space in Dalston, Hackney; Gillett Square is the first completed project in the Mayor's 100 Public Spaces Programme
  • £1m for the completion of works to improve access to Hammersmith town centre and deliver other safety improvements, at the west end of King Street
  • £300,000 over three years to renovate and upgrade railway viaducts in Lambeth to provide new walking links through the arches in pleasant and secure surroundings
  • £910,000 for major regeneration of George Street Town Centre, in Richmond
  • £35,000 to produce renewable energy for the borough's pool of electric vehicles by building a wind turbine at Low Hall Depot in Waltham Forest
  • This year is the first time the money allocated has been directly linked to borough Local Implementation Plans (LIPs). Each borough has been preparing a LIP showing how it proposes to implement the Mayor's Transport Strategy locally over the coming years
  • While Transport for London awards funding for individual schemes, project delivery is the responsibility of the boroughs
  • Attached is a table with a breakdown of funding for the borough by transport topic
  • LIPs submitted by Islington, Croydon, Harrow, Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lewisham, Merton and Kingston have all been approved by the Mayor; others are still pending
  • Priorities for all LIPs include:
    • Improving road safety
    • Improving bus journey times and reliability
    • Relieving traffic congestion and improving journey time reliability
    • Improving the working of parking and loading arrangements
    • Improving accessibility for all on the transport network
    • Encouraging walking and cycling
    • Bringing transport infrastructure into a state of good repair
  • Total allocations for all boroughs

LIP Programme 2007/08 Allocation
Barking and Dagenham £3,107,000
Barnet £4,295,000
Bexley £3,913,000
Brent £4,794,000
Bromley £4,852,000
Camden £5,143,000
City of London £3,077,000
Croydon £6,447,000
Ealing £4,412,000
Enfield £3,480,000
Greenwich £3,434,000
Hackney £3,245,000
Hammersmith and Fulham £3,913,000
Haringey £4,184,000
Harrow £4,589,000
Havering £2,916,000
Hillingdon £4,113,000
Hounslow £4,394,000
Islington £5,719,000
Kensington and Chelsea £1,929,000
Kingston £3,496,000
Lambeth £4,278,000
Lewisham £3,278,000
Merton £4,226,000
Newham £5,531,000
Redbridge £4,206,000
Richmond £6,898,000
Southwark £5,341,000
Sutton £4,567,000
Tower Hamlets £3,190,000
Waltham Forest £5,150,000
Wandsworth £3,132,000
Westminster £3,683,000
Sub-total £138,927,000
Funds allocated to boroughs through partnerships £13,356,000
Studies, surveys, reserve funding £7,923,000
Total £160,206,000