Siân Berry has challenged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to use his legal powers and require local councils to uphold their Healthy Streets commitments. Her questions come as Tower Hamlets Council, despite consultations showing strong support from residents, is set to publish a timetable to rip out its Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. [1]
Minutes after responding to questioning from Siân Berry AM during which the Mayor said he was still reticent to use his own legal powers to back up Healthy Streets, Green Party London Assembly Member Siân Berry sent the Mayor a formal letter asking him to prevent these schemes being removed.
Siân Berry AM said:
“The Mayor cannot just be a bystander when a council is removing changes that made congested, polluted streets into green, pleasant spaces. All the more so when he is far off meeting his own targets to deliver safer and cleaner streets. [2]
“The Mayor has the powers to be able to stand up for Healthy Streets, and it is time for him to use them. Ever since the Greater London Authority and Mayor were created in 1999, the law has been clear that the primary duty to plan and implement transport in London rests with the Mayor for London. these duties rest with the Mayor of London.
“We cannot reach any of London’s ambitious goals to cut congestion, carbon or casualties, if boroughs are allowed to cancel their commitments.
“It is not enough for the Mayor to withhold money or have quiet words in private, we need a Mayor who steps up and acts.”
Every few years, London boroughs are required to set out plans illustrating how they will implement the Mayor’s Transport Strategy at the local level. In 2019, Tower Hamlets made legally binding commitments to deliver liveable streets, specifically naming Columbia Road, Arnold Circus, Old Bethnal Green Road, and Brick Lane.
Despite delivering on these commitments, with a majority support from local residents, Tower Hamlets Council has decided to remove them without any plan of what to do for the community instead. Additionally, Transport for London (TfL) had refused to approve an earlier version of the council’s plan, saying it wouldn’t meet mayoral priorities to save lives and cut pollution.
Notes to editors
The full exchange between London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Siân Berry AM can be viewed online.
Siân Berry AM has sent the Mayor a formal letter following the exchange.
Siân Berry AM is available for interview.
[1] Background on previous inaction from London’s Mayor to stand up for his Healthy Streets policy:
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In 2017, the Mayor unveiled his Healthy Streets Strategy, which lays out internal targets for safer, cleaner streets.
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In 2018, Westminster Council unilaterally walked away from Oxford Street pedestrianisation, prompting the London Assembly to call on the Mayor to consider the use of other powers in the Greater London Authority Act 1999. The Mayor said he would consider using those powers in response, but did not act further.
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Since then, Kensington and Chelsea also removed a cycle lane that was delivered by the borough during the pandemic.
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Most recently, Tower Hamlets have gone from taking money from TfL to implement Healthy Streets to refusing public money, even going so far as to rip out the safer street infrastructure around the borough.
[2] Sadiq Khan criticised for ‘astonishing’ delays to Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, Evening Standard, 2 October 2023