Ealing Fails in Bid To Become Mini-Holland

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But there will be some funding for cycle changes

Ealing's missed out on the lion's share of funding in the Mayor's cycle scheme to make London boroughs become 'mini-Hollands'.

Kingston, Enfield and Waltham Forest were selected from the eight finalists and will get £30 million each to make 'substantial and transformative' changes.

Ealing's ideas included major road and bridge improvements, segregated cycle paths, and towpath improvements.

Boris Johnson, announced that Ealing along with Bexley, Merton and Richmond had 'exceptional proposals and TfL will work with them to take forward substantial parts of their bids to improve cycle routes and facilities.

Mr Johnson, said: “I have been incredibly impressed with the standard of the mini-Holland entries and by the thirst among all the finalists to transform themselves into better places for people. It has been so hard to choose between them that I have decided that all shall have prizes.

“Areas once terra incognita for the bicycle will, over time, become every bit as cycle-friendly as their Dutch equivalents - places that suburbs and towns all over Britain will want to copy.”
 
Leon Daniels. Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL said: “From the moment we launched the Mini-Holland programme we have been blown away by the ambition and scale of the proposals from boroughs across London. The proposals from the eight finalists were all of exceptional quality and we look forward to working with them all to help make town centres across London more friendly and accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.”

Though the mini-Holland scheme focuses on improving conditions for cyclists, it will also transform significant parts of each winning borough’s public realm, cut overcrowding on public transport and reduce traffic congestion, pollution and parking pressures.

Now that the mini-Hollands have been settled, funding allocations for the other boroughs will follow. Exact amounts haven't been revealed yet.

The news that Ealing missed out on the bulk of the funding will be a big disappointment - particularly for Council Leader Julian Bell and Cabinet member Bassam Mahfouz who are keen cyclists. But the pair say they're pleased that there will still be some money available:

Councillor Julian Bell, leader of the council, said:“This is great news for cyclists in Ealing. After speaking with cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, I am confident that we will get the TfL funding needed to deliver a sizeable proportion of our Mini-Holland bid.  This will enable us to carry out the improvements in Ealing town centre and along the Uxbridge Road.  But, our plan is to deliver the whole scheme, so we will also be looking to identify other funding that could be used to make Ealing’s full Mini-Holland bid a reality.”


Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for environment and transport, added: “Our Mini-Holland bid focused on creating transformational cycling highways in key locations throughout the borough, which would make it easier and safer for people to travel on two wheels.”

March 11th 2014