The Mayor of London today announced £3.5m of funding for Barnet to spend on local transport improvements to make the borough safer, greener and more accessible.

The £3.5m funding includes £609,000 to improve bus services including improvements to the Golders Green junction with Finchley Road, £544,000 to resurface the A5 Burnt Oak Broadway to improve the safety for cyclists and drivers, £52,000 for cycle training and £60,000 for more cycle lanes and better facilities for cyclists in Barnet as part of the London Cycle Network+.

The funding is part of the record-breaking five-year £792m programme for local transport schemes included in the Transport for London (TfL) £10bn Investment Programme.

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said: "This new £3.5m investment in local transport schemes will make the daily journeys of people in Barnet, safer, greener and more accessible, whether they are travelling by public transport, by car, on foot or by bike.

"Thanks to extra investment in local transport schemes cycling has increased by 83 per cent since 2000 and more than 1,600 school travel plans have been approved which encourage and enable more children and their parents to walk to school."

London's Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: "This £3.5m investment will go towards directly improving transport for people in Barnet.

"Local people feel strongly about transport in their area and this funding will make a real difference to their experience each day.  

"The investment will fund both large and small projects that will improve bus journeys and access to public transport, reduce congestion, improve the environment and promote a healthier lifestyle. 

"This funding is an important part of our wider programme of spending in the boroughs to make improvements to local transport."

Projects funded in Barnet for 2008/09 include:

  • £609,000 for priority measures to improve bus services and journey times including major junction improvements on the Golders Green junction with Finchley Road
  • £300,000 for a road safety covering six sites, including the Hampstead Lane / Winnington Road and Vivian Avenue / Sevington Road junctions. Funding will go towards anti-skid surfacing to reduce collisions caused by wet road surfaces at these junctions
  • £544,000 to resurface the A5 Burnt Oak Broadway carriageway.  This is one of two large projects that TfL is funding in Barnet to improve the safety and comfort of road users
  • £35,000 to provide 'Safer Moves' - practical pedestrian training for Year 4 classes across a number of schools in Barnet so that youngsters learn how to walk safely to school and other facilities
  • £52,000 towards cycle training and £60,000 for cycle lanes as part of the London Cycle Network+


 

Note for editors:

  • Each year the borough prepares a Local Implementation Plan to demonstrate how they propose to implement the Mayor's Transport Strategy locally. While TfL awards funding for individual schemes, project delivery is the responsibility of the borough
  • Priorities for the Local Implementation Plans include:
    • Improving road safety
    • Improving bus journey times and reliability
    • Relieving traffic congestion and improving journey time reliability
    • Improving the working of parking and loading arrangements
    • Improving accessibility for all on the transport network
    • Encouraging walking and cycling
    • Bringing transport infrastructure into a good state of repair
  • Below is an allocation breakdown of Local Implementation Plan funding for Barnet for 2008/09:

Principal road renewals - £651,000
Local safety schemes - £835,000
Walking - £96,000
Cycling - £52,000
London Cycle Network + - £60,000
Bus stop accessibility - £30,000
Bus priority - £1,419,000
School Travel Plans - £320,000
Local area accessibility - £40,000
Total - £3,503,000

  • A School Travel Plan is a package of measures, tailored to the needs of individual schools to deliver alternative transport methods for the school run. The aim of a School Travel Plan is to reduce single occupancy car journeys to school, reduce congestion and increase safety around schools
  • The London Cycle Network + is funded by TfL. It will provide 900km of safer, faster cycle routes through the Capital.  It's due to be finished by 2010 and is one of TfL's major investments