Mayor announces £4.9m for transport improvements in Ealing

The £4.9m funding includes £640,000 for more cycle lanes and better facilities for cyclists in Ealing as part of the London Cycle Network+, £630,000 for more 20mph zones in Ealing, £250,000 to make road safety improvements at the Greenford Road/Ruislip Road junction and £285,000 to resurface the carriageway and improve the footway along the (A4020) in Acton Town Centre.

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 £4.9m investment in local transport schemes will make the daily journeys of people in Ealing 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." 

Local transport improvements

London's Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: "This £4.9m investment will go towards directly improving transport for people in Ealing.

"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 Ealing for 2008/09 include:

• £717,000 for measures to improve bus services and journey times in the borough, including the installation of two new bus lanes on the Greenford Road, north and south of Ruislip Road East. £143,000 will also be spent on making bus stops in the borough fully accessible
• £640,000 for London Cycle Network +
• £630,000 for 20mph zones in Ealing to improve safety in local streets
• £250,000 for a road safety scheme in Greenford. Improvements will be made at the Greenford Road/Ruislip Road junction with enhanced pedestrian crossing facilities. In addition, £35,000 has been allocated to fund the development of a project to improve Greenford Town Centre
• £285,000 to resurface the carriageway and reconstruct the footway along Acton Town Centre (A4020)
• £100,000 for school cycle training and £50,000 for cycle exemptions that will allow cycles to make manoeuvres at junctions that are currently prohibited
• In addition to the £4.9m, Ealing, as leader of the WESTRANS Partnership, will be co-ordinating £775,000 of improvements to station access across West London that complement local rail services

Notes 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 Ealing for 2008/09:

Principal road renewals - £589,000
Local safety schemes-  £1,210,000
20mph zones - £630,000
Walking - £125,000
Cycling - £211,000
London Cycle Network+ - £640,000
Bus stop accessibility - £143,000
Bus priority - £717,000
Town centres - £35,000
Streets for People - £300,000
School Travel Plans - £97,000
Travel awareness - £18,000
Environment - £38,000
Controlled parking zones - £10,000
Local area accessibility - £90,000
Total - £4,853,000

• 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 our major investments