The London boroughs are facing a cut in the amount of money they can spend on transport projects, such as fixing potholes and redesigning the layout of local town centres. The amount given to local authorities by Transport for London (TfL) will have fallen from £169m in 2009/10 to £120m by 2013/14, under plans announced today by the Mayor of London. This amounts to a 29% fall over a four year period, with the possibility of a further cut in 2014/15.
Three of the biggest areas hit by the cuts are funding for road safety, smarter travel and cycling in outer London. These are mostly paid for from the fund covering ‘Corridors, neighbourhoods and supporting measures.’ This fund has been cut by around £18m for the coming financial year (2). This is a result of the Mayor safeguarding, or increasing, the money covering road maintenance, bridge strengthening and major schemes.
Green Party Assembly Member and Mayor of London candidate Jenny Jones said:
"Much needed improvements to road safety on local roads will not go ahead and the result will be that preventable deaths and injuries are likely to be higher than they should have been. London has benefited from a dramatic fall in road casualties due to ten years of increased investment in measures such as 20mph zones which we know work. This record of success is now under threat."
"Boris has already cut the money for cycling in outer London in order to help pay for cycle hire in central London. This further squeeze on local transport funding will bring to an end any hope of getting large numbers of new cyclists in outer London."
Jenny Jones is running for London Mayor 2012. For more information on her campaign, please visit www.jennyforlondon.org
Notes to editors
[1]
2009/10 – £169m
2010/11 – £155m
2011/12 – £146m
2012/13 – £138m
2013/14 – £120m
[2] In the current financial year Corridors and Neighbourhoods received £85.1m and Smarter Travel received £12.5m. A further £4m was put towards Greenways, but this previously separate budget is rolled into the larger ‘corridors’ fund. This amounts to around £101.5m
So the fund for ‘Corridors, neighbourhoods and supporting measures’ has been effectively cut from £101m to the £83m it received in the coming financial year 2011/12.