Transport for London has frozen over £2 million in local transport funding for Croydon after discovering on social media that the council had removed safety wands used to separate cyclists and motorists along a controversial cycle lane, reports The Standard.

“Boroughs cannot use public funding to deliver a scheme and then unlawfully decide to remove it,” said London’s TfL funded Walking and Cycling Commissioner Will Norman.

TfL has confirmed funding will only resume once the council has repaid the full amount it spent on the segregated London Road scheme, which Mayor Jason Perry said endangered cyclists and blocked emergency vehicles.

While the council has agreed to repay TfL, Croydon West MP Sarah Jones said

“Mayor [Jason] Perry’s repeated disregard for process has left Croydon residents paying the price.”

The funding freeze was triggered when TfL spotted Mayor Perry’s Instagram post in May, which showed the council had dismantled the London Road cycle lane. The scheme, which segregated cyclists from traffic with protective wands, had received £234,917 of TfL’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP) funding since 2020/21.

TfL allocates LIP funding across all 32 London boroughs, which must submit bids to finance local transport and road safety upgrades.

The council also failed to submit the required notification under the Traffic Management Act before removing the lane.

Croydon is now revising its Local Implementation Plan submission following a request from TfL, and has committed to repayment of £234,917. Its LIP funding will be released once TfL has reviewed the revised submission and confirmed it meets the fund’s requirements.

(Picture: Croydon Council)