The £100m “mini-Holland” funding was announced by the Mayor earlier this year and will be shared between a small number of winning boroughs to ensure it delivers “dramatic and transformational change”.
Plans submitted by the shortlisted boroughs include a New York “High Line” style public space for pedestrians and cyclists in Kingston, new cycleways on unused land alongside railway lines in Richmond and a proposal by Enfield council to introduce a roundabout with protected cycle lanes in Edmonton Green.
The full shortlist is: Bexley, Ealing, Enfield, Kingston, Merton, Newham, Richmond and Waltham Forest.
The boroughs will now work with Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner, to refine their respective proposals which will then be assessed for benefits to cycling and affordability before “three or four” winners are selected.
Announcing the shortlist, Mayor Johnson said: “We’ve seen some really creative ideas – from a floating bicycle boardwalk to cycling super hubs – and they’ve all got huge potential to revolutionise how we get around on two wheels.”
Mr Gilligan added: “Councils across outer London have stepped up to the plate and we are thrilled with how many want to redesign their town centres around cycling. There is enough money available to deliver dramatic change in the chosen boroughs, and make them places that suburbs and towns all over Britain will want to copy.”
The £100m funding pot has been welcomed by the Green group on the London Assembly, however they’ve called on the Mayor to ensure all Outer London boroughs receive the funding needed to boost cycling.
Jenny Jones AM said: “The hundred million pound budget for creating three or four mini Hollands in outer London is the right level of investment for those boroughs, but what about the rest of Outer London? If the Mayor of London has had seven strong bids, then he should be funding all of them. At this rate, it will be well over a decade before the majority of people in outer London see the benefits of significant cycling investment.”
The final winners will be announced in early 2014.
