Department for Transport pledges extra £235m to sort London roads

The Department for Transport has today outlined a plan to help keep London moving, with £235 million set to be used over the next eleven years.

The money has been redirected from the flailing HS2 project, and will now be used on a much more worthy cause. The allocations for each London borough have now been set out, and local authorities can begin spending the cash immediately on road repairs and improvements. 

Each allocation is calculated based on the size of the road network within the borough, which is jointly maintained by the local authority and Transport for London (TfL). Based on these calculations, £354,000 has been set aside for Hillingdon, £455,000 for Bromley and £368,000 for Barnet. The boroughs will immediately receive around 96 per cent of the £7.5 million first-year funding, and TfL around four per cent.

Image - TfL

The report from the Department for Transport has also stated that the contentious Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) will also be put under the spotlight. LTNs take residential neighbourhoods and effectively close them off to motorised vehicles while allowing pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooters (albeit mostly illegal e-scooters) access. On the one hand, many residents in these LTNs appreciate the lack of traffic on their doorstep, but the flip side of this can be increased congestion in other areas of the capital. 

Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, said:

“This government is on the side of drivers and is investing £235 million to improve and repair London’s roads, part of the biggest-ever funding uplift for local road improvements.

“This funding is part of a long-term, 11-year plan to ensure road users across London have smoother, faster and safer journeys by using redirected HS2 funding to make the right long-term decisions for a brighter future.”

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