We are proud to have published our latest London review. 'Our work in London 2019: Streets ahead' shows just some of the progress we've made to help transform the capital, working with London boroughs, Transport for London (TFL), the Mayor of London as well as inspirational community groups, schools and businesses to build a healthier, happier city.
Both locally in London and nationally, freeing up our roads and making them safer for everyone makes environmental and economic sense.
Fewer vehicles on our streets mean a more efficient road network with less congestion. The average traffic speeds for the 12 hours between 7am and 7pm across central London are around 8mph. The knock-on health benefits are huge too.
Air pollution and obesity continue to hit the headlines, with record levels of both, putting the lives of the next generation at significant risk.
TfL estimated that over eight million daily journeys could be cycled in London. Walking and cycling offer the greatest potential to keep our city moving. To make this happen, we must create an environment where people feel safe and able to cycle or walk going about their daily business. Think how much less congested our roads would be, how much fitter we would be and how much cleaner our air would be to breathe.
We work with boroughs to identify solutions that will unlock huge potential across London. Our study tours for councillors and officers take in some of London’s best cycling and walking infrastructure, allowing us to demonstrate how bold design decisions can benefit a community.
Transport for London continues to make strides in tackling congestion and air pollution with their Ultra Low Emission Zone and cycling infrastructure. We are proud to have been their delivery agent for the first four years of Quietways, creating quieter and safer routes to cycle in London.
In addition to our project management role, we’ve designed schemes, built bridges, engaged communities in transformation and helped deliver behaviour change programmes on the ground.
It is inspiring to work with hundreds of committed residents and businesses who are part of community groups around London. They are passionate about where they live and work and want the best for their area.
Our collaborative design team has been working with the community group, Bermondsey.Street London, researching how streets in the area are used, generating ideas about how people would like to see their streets look in the future, making them more pedestrian and cycle friendly.
Our Behaviour Change team’s work with schools is very rewarding, as we help change the way parents and children get to school. This year we worked with 94,176 pupils through our Bike It Plus programme. We also saw an increase a 107% increase in primary and secondary school pupils cycling at least twice a week as a result of our Bike It Plus programme.
We’ve been working with London boroughs and communities to build healthy streets and make that vision of a healthier, happier London a reality. Highlights include:
- Helping deliver 110km of Quietways as TfL’s delivery agent
- Unlocking huge potential in Bromley for a liveable neighbourhood
- Working on ambitious designs with Greenwich
- Successfully bidding for £400,000 match funding from the Mayor of London’s Green Capital Grants and Barking Riverside Ltd. for the new Ripple Greenway project in Barking and Dagenham
- Launching a London-wide action plan to overhaul the National Cycle Network.
- Transforming local business deliveries at Drings Butchers in Greenwich from diesel to e-cargo bike, resulting in a 75% fall in the business’ CO2 emissions
- Working with partners in every London borough
Award winners
We were also very proud to win two London Transport awards in 2018: Transport Consultant of the Year and Excellence in Cycling and Walking.
And it was fantastic to be appointed to TfL’s second Architecture Design Urbanism Panel (ADUP2) framework. We are now in prime position to help the public sector deliver the best quality streets and places.
Joel De Mowbray, Royal Borough of Greenwich Principal Transport Planner said:
“We have worked with Sustrans for many years to support the delivery of walking and cycling infrastructure projects, and our experience has been very positive.
“The engineering services provided from feasibility to snagging have always focused on the user experience to push for high-quality provision, whilst understanding financial constraints and the local context.”
James Austin, Sustrans London Director said:
“We have been pushing the political and social agenda for over 40 years, working to create a healthier and happier city where people choose to leave their car at home and walk or cycle instead."
None of our work would be possible without the support of everyone whose enthusiasm and drive spurs us on and so a big thank you to all of you. We look forward to continuing our work together - creating a society where how we travel creates healthier places and happier lives for everyone.