Newham Council has announced £51m for an active and sustainable travel programme (2023-2031), with £5m allocated for 2023/24.
The projects that will be funded will enable and encourage more active and sustainable trips to be made in the borough, which will, in turn, deliver on our air quality, public health and neighbourhood objectives to build a fairer Newham.
Councillor James Asser, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainable Transport, said: “We are committed to improving the environment and delivering healthier, better-quality public spaces and safer roads.
“We have agreed on the funding to start delivering the changes that will bring about these improvements to the borough. We are in a position to start bringing forward the plans now, and much of this work has already begun.
“This will continue to deliver quieter streets, and protect our children as they go in and out of school. This will make it easier for people to walk and cycle, reduce traffic speeds so our roads are safer, enforce the rules of the road to stop unsafe driving and make our roads and pavements safer for all, especially children.
“This is the work that we committed to deliver in our manifesto and that we were elected to carry out.”
Key components of the programme are as follows:
Healthy School Streets – to continue our successful programme of making streets around schools safer at pick-up and drop-off times by restricting traffic outside the school gates with a further 10+ schemes to be delivered in 2023/24.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – to continue our ambitious programme of delivering a better quality environment in residential areas; to enable more local walking and cycling trips to be made, make roads quiet and safer and cut out rat-running. We will also re-visit existing schemes (both recent and those introduced in the 80s and 90s) with new measures, such as improved roads and pavements, accessibility improvements, new trees and flower beds, cycle hangars and street play.
Cycling Infrastructure – including improved cycle facilities on major routes (including Romford and Barking Roads) and an accelerated rollout of residential bike hangars
Neighbourhood Public Realm Improvements – to continue to work with residents and community groups to introduce improved public spaces in residential neighbourhoods, including planting and greening
Moving Traffic Contraventions – to continue to work towards making our roads safer and contributing to the Mayor of London’s ‘Vision Zero’ plan to end deaths and serious injuries in road accidents. Together, we can eradicate deaths and serious injuries from our roads and make London a safer, healthier and greener place by tackling dangerous non-compliance at existing traffic restrictions and making these locations safer for all road users.
Traffic Management & Safety Schemes – to continue to work with residents on a programme of small traffic management, speed reduction and road safety measures identified by residents and ward councillors to address reported concerns.
Borough 20mph Limit – to introduce a Borough-wide 20mph zone to reduce traffic speed and make roads safer for all.
Street Play – to restart our support for community-led play street schemes and to routinely deliver formal and informal play elements in public realm schemes.
The £51m capital programme of investment in active and sustainable travel until 2031, with £5m allocated for the first year 2023/24.
