Agenda item

In response to a question from a Member, the Director of the Built Environment gave the Sub-Committee an update on plans for Car Free Day. Officers were currently working out access restrictions, with Beech Street likely to remain open to buses, and continued to engage on synchronising Car Free Day with Open House Weekend events. Committee approval was being sought for the necessary footprint and road closures.

With regards to Ludgate Circus, the Deputy Chairman stressed that Members needed to maintain their role in scrutinising and monitoring progress and asked whether Members should press for TfL to go further. The planned intervention of an experimental traffic order would ban southbound manoeuvres and cause the junction to operate differently for pedestrians. The Director of the Built Environment advised that TfL were committed, and this would be the beginning of a process. Officers would continue to lobby and liaise during the experimental period and monitor the impact of the traffic order. Members stressed that pedestrians should be the highest priority in transforming the junction due to the high volume of pedestrian movements across it.

A Member asked if officers could provide further information on road charging, following a presentation from Centre for London at the recent Walking and Cycling Conference. The Director of the Built Environment advised that Centre for London’s proposals aligned closely with the City of London Corporation’s own proposals on road user charging. A briefing could be arranged to provide Members with more information on this.