A £23m funding bid to improve transport networks throughout Croydon is set to be submitted to Transport for London by the council this week. 

The proposal forms part of the Council’s latest Local Implementation Plan, which outlines the blueprint for its fulfilment of the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy: creating a greener, healthier and more accessible transportation network.  

The bid, if approved will see bus, tram, cycling and road safety infrastructure receive greater investment. Over the course of the LIP’s three-year delivery, Croydon Council’s ‘Better Buses’, ‘Walking and Cycling’ and ‘Safer Streets’ programmes will receive £12.34m, £3.41m and £1.65m respectively. 

The LIP also includes plans for a range of initiatives that prioritise safety, accessibility and aesthetic enhancements to Croydon town centre and surrounding areas. Its ‘Healthy Places’ and ‘Reconnected Croydon’ programmes would receive a combined total of around £7m. Additional footways, pedestrianisation of school streets and traffic reductions are among the improvements these schemes would look to implement. 

If successful, the grant would be ringfenced for “significant transport improvements” and could not be used for routine maintenance of the Council’s highway assets. 

In a statement, Mayor of Croydon Jason Perry said: “Residents really value Croydon’s excellent transport links and I want to make sure that everyone is benefitting from them, by improving connections right across our borough. 

“Our proposals are about making it quicker, easier and safer for people to travel around by bus, bike and on foot, and improving our roads for all users.” 

“I also want us to work with partners to ensure these transport upgrades improve the look and feel of our public places, helping to make them safer, more accessible and more attractive for everyone.” 

A spokesperson for Croydon Cycling Campaign said the boroughs’s walking and cycling networks were in “desperate’ need of improvement and the borough had fallen behind other outer London boroughs such as Houslow and Richmond on key indicators.

The spokesperson added: “£3.41m sounds good on paper and it’ll certainly make a difference. However, this is over three years and, with the borough’s population being around 400,000, falls a long way short of the recommended spend per-head per-year of £20, which would be around £24m over three years. 

The council release is a little light on detail, but we note that the major identified ‘Walking & Cycling’ schemes are around the periphery of the borough. What is most needed at this time is a redoubled effort to better connect the town centre to the nearest suburbs where people are most likely to walk and cycle from… major safety improvements are needed to enable many more people to cycle some of their shorter trips, and help Croydon catch up with the leading outer London boroughs on indicators of safety and physical activity.” 

Croydon Council has also stated that TfL have made a further two discretionary funding pots available to local authorities. With a combined value of up to £15m, these funds are to be used to improve road safety in “highest priority” locations and deliver “transformational” improvements to bus infrastructure. 

Statistics published by the Department for Transportation found that there were 1,258 casualties in Croydon in 2023, a 15% increase on the previous year and the highest figure recorded in the borough for a decade. This is despite London seeing a 15% drop in the number of casualties over the same 10-year period. Findings such as these may prompt TfL to seriously consider Croydon as a recipient of the additional discretionary funding pots.  

Earlier this year, Croydon was one of several outer London local authorities criticised by Sian Berry, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, for its “lack of ambition” in providing alternatives to cars. Berry highlighted the council’s failure to propose new funding for cycleways and bus infrastructure, though this bid appears to suggest attitudes are changing. 

A decision on the Council’s proposal is expected in 2025. If successful, its plans will be implemented over the following three years.