MAYOR OF LONDON Making London a walkable city The Walking Plan for London February 2004 Contents Forward by the Mayor 2 About the Plan 3 Part 1: 2015 - Stating the vision 4 Part 2: Walking – the facts 4 Part 3: The Action Plan 4 Part 1: 2015 - Stating the vision 5 1.1 The vision 5 1.2 Defining walkability 5 1.3London – a walkable city 6 1.4Learning from others 7 1.5 Links to other Mayoral strategies 10 1.6 Links to Local Authority walking strategies 11 Part 2: Walking – The facts, benefits and barriers 12 2.1 The growth of London 13 2.2 Journeys on foot 13 2.2.1 Journeys to work 13 2.2.2 Journeys to school 14 2.2.3 Leisure journeys 15 2.3 The benefits of walking 15 2.3.1 Encouraging more use of public transport 15 2.3.2 A better environment 16 2.3.3 Social inclusion 17 2.3.4 Healthier lifestyles 17 2.3.5 Boosting the economy 19 2.4 Barriers to walking 20 2.4.1 Institutional issues 20 2.4.2 Traffic volume 20 2.4.3 Air quality 21 2.4.4 The walking environment 21 2.4.5 Safety 21 2.4.6 Security 23 2.4.7 Information 23 2.4.8 Access and mobility 24 Part 3: The action plan 26 3.1Policy into practice 26 3.2 Headline targets 26 3.2.1 Linking to local level targets 27 3.3 Objectives and actions 27 3.4Review and monitoring 27 3.5 The local level 28 3.6 The Action Plan 28 Objective 1: Improving co-ordination & inclusiveness in the Walking Plan development 29 Objective 2: Promoting walking 30 Objective 3: Improving street conditions 31 Objective 4: Improving development proposals & interchanges 33 Objective 5: Improving safety and security 34 Objective 6: Plan delivery and monitoring 35 Appendix 1: Supporting organisations & glossary 37 Appendix 2: Bibliography 39 Foreword by Mayor Ken Livingstone ‘London is a great city for buildings to enjoy along the walking. My vision is to make way. it one of the world’s most walking friendly cities by 2015. Walking is a fundamental part Walking is an enjoyable, free of human day-to-day activity, and accessible activity and for but walking environments can most people, a necessary part sometimes be challenging. It is of their everyday journeys. important that we create a safe, attractive and accessible Every journey begins and ends environment that enriches with an element of walking and Londoners experience and every traveller is a pedestrian at appreciation of walking. This various points during their trip. plan identifies all the key issues Wheelchair users are also relevant to walking in London pedestrians, although they may and proposes how they can be have additional design needs addressed in a practical and that determine their experience cost effective way. of the pedestrian environment. I challenge all those Walking contributes to the organisations involved in making health and wellbeing of London a walkable city to work individuals and to many aspects together to deliver the actions of community life and the contained within this plan.’ vibrancy of London. It is also a very popular leisure pursuit. The range of opportunities for leisure walking in London is vast, with an array of promoted, self guided routes and trails within the City and along rivers, canal paths, parks, woodlands, with attractive squares, Ken Livingstone landmarks and world class Mayor of London 2 About the Plan Who is the plan for? The Walking Plan for London of walking in London. In has been developed to assist all particular, they supported organisations involved in measures to reduce traffic achieving the Mayor’s walking congestion and local transport vision for London. initiatives that would encourage more walking. These include professionals in a variety of fields including This Plan identifies many transport planning, transport difficulties faced by all engineering, health, tourism, members of the community social inclusion, crime and proposes solutions that prevention, community will overcome them. Delivering enhancement, urban design these improvements will involve and a wide variety of other many organisations, either activities. individually or in partnership. In particular, London boroughs During the comprehensive have an important role to play. public consultation that In line with its remit in funding preceded publication of the and encouraging walking, TfL Mayor’s Transport Strategy, has responsibility for initiating many Londoners voiced and leading on many aspects of concerns about the difficulties the Plan. 3 Part 1: 2015 - Stating the deterrents to making journeys G Objective 5: Improving vision on foot, illustrating the broad safety and security Part 1 sets the 2015 vision for range of organisations and implement safety and London and explains what TfL policies that have an impact security measures to help aims to achieve through its on the walking environment. pedestrians delivery. In this section, we G Objective 6: Plan delivery address the issue of what is Part 3: The Action Plan and monitoring actually meant by ‘a walking Part 3 sets out London-wide Timely delivery of the friendly city’. targets, suggests an approach Mayor’s vision will require to developing targets at a local significant funding and Part 2: Walking - the facts level and identifies actions resource input at the Part 2 highlights why we should needed to improve conditions regional and local level. be encouraging more walking for pedestrians and encourage and the potential benefits for people to walk more. Actions Many of the actions contained health, the environment, the are listed under six key in this plan do not require community and the economy. objectives: financial support from TfL to It also looks at the factors that G Objective 1: Improving enable their delivery. However, have led to a decline in walking co-ordination and a number of activities depend over the past decade. Survey inclusiveness in the Walking on the provision of funding for data shows the issues that Plan development improvements, for example, people rate as significant co-ordinate delivery and through the Borough Spending further develop the plan to Plan process. ensure pedestrians needs As part of the submission are being met to the Government’s Comprehensive Spending G Objective 2: Promoting walking Review 2004, TfL has set out educate and inform the the case for additional resources to enable delivery of public, via published material this plan (as part of the wider and campaigns case for delivering the Mayor’s G Objective 3: Improving agenda for transport). In order street conditions for the 2015 vision to be fully draw up guidelines, develop realised, it is necessary that integrated pedestrian these funds are secured, networks and deliver together with the support of improvements the London boroughs and other G Objective 4: Improving partners for delivering key developments and actions. The plan will be interchanges reviewed to ensure that any develop guidelines and available funds and resources measures to improve are targeted at areas where the pedestrian conditions at maximum benefit can be new developments and achieved. interchanges 4 Part 1: 2015 Stating the vision 1.1 The vision TfL supports the vision that by a combination of walking London will become one of the and public transport. world’s most walking friendly In addition, the Plan supports cities by 2015 set out in the the revitalisation of public Mayor’s Transport Strategy. spaces and the creation of a The aim of the Walking Plan for high quality urban environment London is to see more people that enriches Londoners’ making walking their first choice experience and appreciation for short journeys and making of walking as a valued and more trips over longer distances enjoyable activity. 1.2 Defining ‘walkability’ A walking friendly city is a city walkability for inclusion within where people select walking as the Walking Plan for London. their preferred choice of travel They are as follows: for health and to relax and one which exhibits a high degree of Connected ‘walkability’. The extent to which the walking network is connected to key Walkability may in turn be ‘attractors’ like public transport defined as the extent to which interchanges, homes, places of walking is readily available to work and leisure destinations in the consumer as a safe, addition to the degree that the connected, accessible and routes themselves connect. pleasant activity. To Londoners this will mean a Aspects which make a city marked improvement to the walkable are described as the logic and coherence of the 5 ‘Cs’ in the London Planning walking network e.g. walking Advisory Committee’s Walking routes which get them from A Strategy for London and are to B safely, easily and via the adopted as key indicators of most direct route. 5 Convivial the availability of mapping and landscaping and public toilets, The extent to which walking is signage. which make the public realm a a pleasant activity in terms of more comfortable place to be. interaction with people and the To Londoners this will mean built and natural environment, safer streets where people feel Convenient including other road users. secure at all times of the day The extent to which walking is through increased natural able to compete with other To Londoners this will mean surveillance and other measures modes in terms of efficiency a significant reduction in litter, such as street lighting to through the implementation of graffiti and other problems increase security. the above factors. which reduce the quality of the walking environment and Comfortable To Londoners this will mean the prevent the creation of high The extent to which walking is creation of walking routes and quality public spaces that make made more enjoyable through environments, which compete being ‘out and about’ a high quality pavement surfaces, with other less sustainable pleasurable activity.