In April 2020 Lambeth was the first council in the UK to bring forward a transport plan in response to COVID-19.
This wasn’t done in isolation – there was a specific edict from central Government that local authorities most now “make significant changes to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians.”
Luckily Lambeth was pretty well prepared for this – the Transport Strategy and Implementation Plans that had already been consulted on and approved in 2019 set out plans to prioritise walking and cycling above motor traffic. Under the emergency plan the implementation timetable has been massively accelerated.
The COVID crisis destroyed TfL’s budgets and reserves: with no fare income at all during lockdown and a massive hit to fare income for a long period. As life returned to normal altered work patterns and more working from home means fare income has not returned to pre-Covid levels.
All previously funded schemes (including the multi-million Brixton Liveable Neighbourhood, on which community engagement was in progress) were halted. Emergency funding during 2020 and 2021 saw a series of Low Traffic Neighbourhood trials implemented and cycleways using much cheaper materials – bollards, bolt down rubber kerbs, planters – rather than expensively digging up the roads. That looks set to continue as budgets remain constrained (and it’s become clear that cheaper materials deliver nearly all of the benefits but allow more schemes to be delivered).
For the foreseeable future schemes aren’t going to look like Baylis Road, with the Rosendale Road scheme previously approved being redesigned to be delivered at a lower cost.
2020-2022 has seen FIVE Low Traffic Neighbourhoods now all confirmed to be permanent scheme, with the first changes now being seen on the street in Railton and Oval and engagement completed for the remaining filter designs.
Railton engagement report and final design
Oval engagement report and final designs
The next section includes a summary of recent schemes and links.
Lambeth Cyclists 
