Low traffic Hackney plans approved by Cabinet

Thousands of people in Hackney will enjoy less traffic and pollution, healthier travel and new liveable neighbourhoods as a result of Council plans to make three-quarters of the borough low traffic.

Hundreds of new bike hangars; better walking routes; new shared bikes and cars; tens of greened local streets; new School Streets at all Hackney primary schools and expanding the programme to secondaries; and, feasibility studies on reducing traffic through road user charging all form part of the plans approved by the Council’s Cabinet this week.

The Council will also speak to local residents and businesses in Chatsworth Road, Dalston, Hoxton, Cazenove and Stamford Hill about introducing new low traffic neighbourhoods there in 2023, 2024 and 2025. This will bring the proportion of the borough’s roads that are low traffic up from half to three-quarters.

All the proposals are set out in Hackney’s local implementation plan, outlining the transport projects the Council plans to introduce in the coming years and how these are funded. The Council’s latest funding agreement with Transport for London covers until March 2025. The plan encompasses the lifetime of that funding, though there are some proposals that are not yet funded.

As part of the plans, the Council will develop designs to improve Cricketfield Road, Pembury Circus, Lordship Park, Graham Road, Manor Road, Dalston Lane, Pembury Circus, though implementation of some of these schemes is subject to the availability of funding from Transport for London and other sources.

Following the Council’s successful bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, a much-needed redesign of the Pembury Circus junction will take place, along with the transformation of five acres of public space in Hackney Central.

All the work is aimed at making it easier to get around on foot, by bike or by public transport, cleaning up the borough’s air and building a greener, healthier borough.

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We are one of the greenest boroughs in the country - with more of us walking, cycling and taking public transport than almost any other area.
These plans set out the next stage of our ambitions to reduce traffic and pollution; get everyone travelling healthily; and create liveable neighbourhoods that support this switch.
Nearly all of Hackney will be low traffic; we’ll be developing options to support distance-based road user charging; there’ll be more bike and car sharing; we will create 4,000 new secure cycle parking spaces; every Hackney primary school will have a School Street and we’ll be doing everything we can to build a greener, healthier Hackney.

Cllr Mete Coban MBE, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport

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The Council’s plans are set out under three key ambitions, with core commitments under each:

Reducing traffic and pollution

Developing proposals to introduce road-user charging, reducing traffic pollution in the borough
Reducing school-run traffic
Reducing goods traffic by 2.5% with a new freight action plan
Publishing data from our 30 live traffic monitors on a new web page
Working to meet the Air Quality Objectives across the borough
Improving the availability of air quality monitoring data at hackney.gov.uk/air-quality
Reducing emissions from the Council’s vehicles, with new EVs and alternative fuels
Repeating our borough through-traffic survey

Helping everyone to travel healthily

Rolling out School Streets to all eligible Hackney schools
New safe cycle routes, including from Lea Bridge to Dalston
Investigating introducing segregated cycling on Well Street and Cassland Road
Cycle training offered to 6,000 students
Road safety lessons offered to all schools
Expanding dockless bike hire - to help more people try out cycling
Expanded car clubs - with 100 new car club vehicles, and more of them electrified
Prioritising bus routes with new bus lanes and extended operating times

Creating liveable neighbourhoods, streets and estates ready for the switch

Walking, cycling, road safety or greening improvements on tens of local streets
600 new secure bike hangars by 2026, and more secure bike parking
3,000 EV charging points by 2030
New low traffic neighbourhoods - we’ll engage with local people on introducing new low traffic neighbourhoods in Chatsworth Road, Hoxton, Cazenove and Stamford Hill
Continuing to expand the community parklets programme
Continue to integrate rain gardens into Hackney’s public spaces

The plans encompass the lifetime of the latest funding agreement with Transport for London:

2022/23:

Proposals to reduce main road traffic published
Work to install new electric vehicle charging points begins
Four new School Streets
Ongoing work to replace the Council’s diesel fleet with EVs, bikes and e-bikes
Expanding the dockless bike scheme
Cycle training offered to 6,000 primary and secondary school children
Road safety programme offered to all schools
Proposals for walking, cycling, road safety or greening improvements on: Leonard Street, Charles Square, Rufus Street, Murray Grove, and Phipp Street
Ongoing community parklet programme
Supporting the rollout of a new 20mph speed limit on TfL roads in Hackney

2023/24:

Work starts to significantly expand the electric vehicle charging network, with over 500 chargers installed
Deliver 100 additional car club vehicles
Ongoing work to replace the Council’s diesel fleet with EVs, bikes and e-bikes
Cycle training offered to 6,000 primary and secondary school children (currently part funded)
Road safety programme offered to all schools
Working with residents to improve London Fields and Hackney Downs low traffic neighbourhoods
Speaking to residents in Dalston, Chatsworth Road and Hoxton East about introducing new low traffic neighbourhoods in 2023/24
Proposals for walking, cycling, road safety or greening improvements on: Nile Street, Flanders Way, Wayland Avenue, Olive School, Albion Road and Downham Road.
Improving routes into the Pembury Circus junction, including Pembury Road and Cricketfield Road, and redesigning the Pembury Circus junction so it is safer for everyone [Levelling Up Fund bid]
Improving safety and greening public spaces in Hackney Central [Levelling Up Fund bid]
Six new School Streets
Improving or extending bus lanes on Amhurst Park and Graham Road
Complete feasibility study on trialling road user charging (currently unfunded)
Publish a freight action plan
Improve and expand the ZEN cargo bike share scheme
Supporting more businesses to adopt zero emissions travel
Enable freight consolidation hubs with logistics suppliers to reduce delivery miles
Healthy streets programmes in Graham Road, Northwold Road, Dalston Lane, Lordship Park/Manor Road, Lordship Terrace [currently unfunded]
Investigate introducing segregated cycling on Well Street and Cassland Road [currently unfunded]

2024/25:

Speaking to residents in Cazenove and Stamford Hill about introducing new low traffic neighbourhoods
Six new School Streets
Ongoing work to replace the Council’s diesel fleet with EVs, bikes and e-bikes
More than 500 new electric vehicle chargers installed

2025/26:

Ongoing work to replace the Council’s diesel fleet with EVs, bikes and e-bikes
A refreshed transport strategy
More than 300 new electric vehicle chargers installed

Read the full implementation plan, approved by the Council’s Cabinet at: https://hackney.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=111&MId=5470

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Low traffic Hackney plans approved by Cabinet