In partnership with Bromley, we’ve secured a multimillion-pound funding package from TfL’s Liveable Neighbourhoods funding stream for the outer London borough’s Shortlands, Ravensbourne and Bromley Better Villages project. The project aims to create healthy streets across London, enabling people to choose to make more everyday trips on foot, by bike or on public transport.
The funding from the Mayor of London’s and Transport for London’s (TfL) £114 million Liveable Neighbourhoods programme will enable Bromley to forge ahead with its ambitious plans for the area around Shortlands Station.
Building on our success in Lewisham
Hot on the heels of our success in securing £2.9million for Lewisham last year, we worked with Bromley to develop the successful Liveable Neighbourhoods bid that built on our existing relationship when we worked on the Greenwich to Kent House and Lower Sydenham to Bromley Quietway cycle routes.
Creating a sense of place
The funding will allow a transformation of the area which will see Shortlands Station better connected with the surrounding neighbourhood. New pedestrian crossings and protected cycle lanes will give people easier access to rail services to central London and Kent. Through thoughtful street design, there will be a renewed sense of place for Shortlands as a village hub with a lively business scene and people prioritised over traffic. It will be greener and healthier, enabling people to get around on foot, by bike and on public transport, contributing to the Mayor’s target for trips by active means and the borough’s own ambitious targets set out in its Local Implementation Plan 3.
In response to what residents and businesses asked for, we developed, with Bromley, a number of design proposals for inclusion in the bid, including pocket parks to make the area greener and more pleasant, measures to slow excessive traffic speeds as well as cycling and walking infrastructure.
A new cycle hub will also be constructed at Shortlands Station. Pupils are set to benefit from School Streets which will make it easier to get to school without cars and a new low-traffic impact neighbourhood west of Bromley Town Centre will enable more people to get around on foot, by cycle and by public transport.
Working with the community on design
To develop the successful bid, we worked with councillors, officers and the local community to identify their aspirations for the area as well as their concerns about current traffic flows and lack of signalised crossings restricting people’s access to and from Shortlands Station. Results from a survey designed by our Research and Monitoring Unit also enabled Bromley to gather the public’s views on how the streetscape around the station should look in the future.
Demonstrating best practice in design
Our extensive community engagement demonstrated significant public support for creating a neighbourhood of Healthy Streets that is attractive, safe and accessible and in line with the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. To bring to life examples of top-quality street design, we organised a study tour with borough officers to visit some of the best walking and cycling infrastructure in London.
Unlocking Bromley’s potential
Sustrans London director Matt Winfield said: “I am very proud of the work we have done on this bid with Bromley and its residents who are passionate about this part of their borough.
"It will enable the borough to create a place where people are at the heart of the design decisions. This is critical to an area’s success as a place where people want to live, work and spend time.
"With each success, we are building our ability to help boroughs access funding and transform their streets into Liveable Neighbourhoods.
“Good design encourages and enables people to walk and cycle more - great news for everyone’s physical and mental health and for the quality of the air we breathe.
"Through our study tour, we demonstrated how bold and ambitious design decisions can significantly benefit a community and make an area more sociable, healthy and vibrant.
"It is wonderful to see this exciting funding opportunity made available to Bromley, allowing the borough to progress with an impressive programme of works over the coming months."
“It’s great to see this funding focus on outer London boroughs because this is where most work is needed to make it easier for people to walk, cycle and use public transport.
"I’m really pleased to see, in particular, that Enfield, Croydon and Hounslow have been successful, given that we have enjoyed working with these boroughs over the years.”
Councillor William Huntington-Thresher, Executive Councillor for Environment and Community Services said, “We previously worked with Sustrans to help develop the proposals for our Quietways cycle routes.
"As part of this proposal, Sustrans has understood the importance of ‘placemaking’ to Bromley residents as part of this proposal alongside improving transport choices.
"Sustrans worked closely with both the Council’s Transport Professionals and elected Councillors as well as engaging with local stakeholders which was critical in this successful application.”
There will be another round of bidding next year, where other boroughs will be able to come forward with proposals for further Liveable Neighbourhoods funding.
Contact us to help you with accessing funding and delivering top-quality collaborative design proposals for Liveable Neighbourhoods.
The project has been shortlisted in the Transport & Infrastructure category for the New London Awards.