Have your say on local walking and cycling improvements

The current Coid-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and travel and there are likely to be many permanent changes once things actually get back to normal. Much of the focus from central and local government has been on encouraging ‘active travel’ and providing safer walking and cycling routes and many temporary changes have already been made or are in the pipeline to help with social distancing, such as widening the pavements, closing off streets to motor vehicles and providing pop up cycle lanes. But many Londoners do not know how they can get involved in consultations and without proper involvement from the community and transport users, there is a risk that some of these well-intentioned schemes could end up restricting access for some or miss wider opportunities that would benefit more people.

London TravelWatch Director, Emma Gibson commented: ‘One of the more positive changes brought on by lockdown and the current pandemic is the push for more safer walking and cycling routes so that Londoners can get around safely and avoid busy stations. TfL and local councils have risen to the challenge and embraced active travel but the speed at which some streets have been transformed is very different to what used to happen, and some schemes are much more radical than people are used to.’

Emma continued: ‘London TravelWatch wants to make sure local people can have their say about these changes but it is not always easy to find out what is happening in a particular area or who to go to if you want to comment on a scheme. So over the next few months we’ll be helping people to get involved, providing information about who to contact and how to contact them..’

To get involved and have your say on works in your area visit our active travel webpage. London TravelWatch is also building a community of people who want to make travelling around London as safe and easy as possible which can be joined online.