Real Change in Westminster — Westminster Cycling

We’re finally seeing real change in Westminster!

Carla Francome is a London cycle campaigner who works in Marylebone in Westminster, and was named Campaigner of the Year at the LCC awards in 2022. She’s written a guest piece for our website about the changes taking place in Westminster.

By Carla Francome, April 2026

Hello WCC, thanks for having me. I live in Bounds Green in North London, in the borough of Haringey, and I’m a member of Haringey Cycling Campaign. I live in the borough’s first low traffic neighbourhood (LTN), which my family and I love, and I regularly write pieces about cycling and campaigning for the local paper, the Ham and High.

I’ve also spent a long time campaigning for change on one of our main routes through the borough, Green Lanes. Nothing has happened there, despite lots of us yelling until we’re blue in the face, so it’s great to finally see some serious change in the borough where I work instead! (If anyone in Haringey council is reading this – don’t think you’ve got out of transforming Green Lanes – I’ll be yapping at your heels again soon).

So anyway, back to Westminster! I started a job near Marble Arch over two years ago, but like most of us in the Capital, I’ve always been interested in what happens in central London. It’s an area that most Londoners care deeply about – lots of us visit and travel through the centre of town regularly. Over the years I’ve posted on social media about the wonderful cycle lane along the Embankment, and pedalled through the maze of Soho. I also know a lot of healthy streets campaigners and cyclists who live in Westminster, who care deeply about it becoming a safe borough to walk and cycle in. (I even heard recently that many politicians heading to Westminster get there on Lime Bikes. Hello 2026!)

There’s been hope for change to the cycle infrastructure in Westminster for a while. (Give campaigners a taste of hope and it goes a long way, believe me, I know). A bright star and passionate cyclist Max Sullivan was given the Cabinet role for streets in January 2025, but before that, he was the Deputy Cabinet member for City Management and Air Quality from May 2022. Max is regularly seen cycling around the borough on his bike with a child seat on the back, and he cares passionately about safer streets for walking and cycling. (He’s also a bit of a nerd who reads all the papers on the issues he can, and loves a peer-based review). So he really is well placed in this role.

I’ve always been a fan of the Elvis Song that goes “A little less conversation, a bit more action please” so I’m always interested in the results. Changing the public realm takes a lot of careful planning of course, from council officers doing important groundwork to public consultations. This all takes time – even the most driven politicians can take a while to get things off the ground, so to speak. But take a tour around Westminster today, and you can see real change happening. And this is when you know that there are people in roles who really mean business.

I’m going to talk you through some of what I’ve seen lately, that shows there’s some serious action underway.

Grand Junction

The area around the Grand Union Canal has probably always been a fairly pleasant place to spend time, but now it really is worth going out of your way to visit. There’s a new playground, gorgeous yellow benches looking out over the pleasant longboats, wider footpaths and better green spaces. (There are a number of new bollards too, and everyone loves a bollard).

I tried to grab a Santander bike here, only to discover they were all taken. That’s when you know people feel safe cycling.

New Contraflows on Low Traffic Streets

Leaving Grand Junction, it is now possible to cycle eastbound, thanks to two new contraflows: Delamere Terrace and Blomfield Road. Both have recently been made two-way for cycling, and are extremely pleasant to pedal along. (Perhaps the only thing more pleasing than cycling along these roads, is seeing a “No Entry” sign at one end for motor traffic, and then the sign underneath that says “Except cycles”. The official response to this, by the way, is: Megalolz).

These contraflows might seem like a simple change, but we all know that having a good cycle route involves a complete route. Locals tell me that these two streets are vital connections to the network as cycling isn’t permitted on the towpath that runs alongside Delamere Terrace.

Blomfield Road (left) and Delamere Terrace (right), both of which are now two way for cycling and one way for motor traffic

There’s also a new contraflow on Connaught Square. The fresh white cycle signs painted on the street and for route C43 are very pleasing, and really give the idea that there are a group of councillors and officers carefully thinking about where someone like me might travel across the borough on a bike, which is extremely pleasing indeed. (I’m not normally a fan of white paint – but here on low traffic streets I think it works well).

Max Sullivan has said that with cycle routes, the team have taken in-progress or recently shelved plans, and brought them up to modern standards with either protected cycle lanes, or low traffic streets.

I’ve cycled on a number of these new contraflow streets, and can confirm that the traffic was very low, and they felt safe.

New kerbed cycle lanes on Westbourne Terrace!

Take a trip along Westbourne Terrace on a bicycle, and you can see that now we’re really in business. There’s a brand new cycle lane, with a proper kerbed separation from the road – the first one the council has put in in years. (There’s one already on one section of this road, but it was put in by TFL – and a good while ago, when Boris Johnson was Mayor). This cycle track is truly glorious to ride along, and once it’s completed, will be along most of this lengthy road. The protection made me feel completely safe. Obviously I had to briefly park my bike, lie on the middle section and check the height of the kerb, and it was as tall as my index finger.

Me lying down on the new kerbed section of Westbourne Terrace

A new modal filter and cycle lane on Stanhope Place

After cycling along the new Contraflow on Connaught Square the other day (part of the C43), I arrived at something quite exquisite. A brand new filter and cycle lane on Stanhope Place. This used to be a bit of a hairy spot, where motor traffic turning left onto Bayswater Road would come into conflict with people cycling straight ahead into Hyde Park.

Now, the ideal thing has occurred. It’s now no way at all for drivers. (Megalolz part II. Sorry – couldn’t resist). The school walk for children coming into and out of the Connaught Square area will feel much safer too.

I took a nice glide along here, and chatted to others on bikes. “There’s a filter ahead!” I said to a woman just pedalling into Stanhope Place. “I know!” She replied, with an excited look on her face.

Once a route becomes safe, people on bikes find them, and come. It’s great to see.

A picture of what Stanhope Place previously looked like.

Tulips on Sussex Gardens

I’m sure you’ve all seen the lovely tulip wands on Sussex Gardens. Personally, I always love a kerb for separation, but then they’re certainly better than no wands, and they do look pretty. And any way we can get Westminster to be a bit more Holland-like is good, if you ask me.

Plans for potential changes on Bayswater Road

Cycling along Stanhope Place towards Hyde Park, there’s a dedicated cycle crossing to get across Bayswater Road. (Which has been there a while). But Bayswater Road itself could also one day have a number of improvements to the public realm, from a kerbed cycle track, to much improved pedestrian crossings.

There was a highly publicised consultation for these improvements, which closed on 4th February with well over 2,500 responses. But what would they say? No results were forthcoming on social media in February, and people wondered what the results were.

Then, in the middle of March, SEBRA magazine dropped on doorsteps. For those who don’t know, it’s a local publication covering three wards that is printed three times a year. (It stands for the South East Bayswater Residents Association). It’s really important to have a local publication like this, and it’s down to the tireless work of the editor John Zamit, who pulls everything together, and gives space to people to air a range of views. He told me that 1,500 copies are printed, and that they go to all their members, two MPS, and all 54 councillors.

In this edition, locals share a range of views about the proposed Bayswater Road scheme. (It’s clearly been a big deal locally – there’s a picture of the plan on the cover!) In amongst the various opinions, there’s a piece by Max Sullivan, where he reveals for the first time, the results of the consultation:

“Most of the responses to the consultation were supportive – a majority of all respondents, a majority of those providing a Westminster postcode, and a majority of those providing a postcode in the SEBRA wards of Bayswater, Lancaster Gate and Hyde Park”.

It’s great to hear that a majority of locals are supportive of this scheme, and it backs up what many of us have seen – that people like neighbourhoods with lower traffic, and they want safe routes where they live for walking and cycling.

Despite these great consultation results, this scheme is paused until after the May elections. So, what next? Well with the local elections coming up, Westminster Cycling Campaign is of course politically neutral, but as someone who works in the borough, I would urge anyone who lives here to look carefully at each party's policies on healthy streets before casting their vote.

I’d say, vote for safe cycling, for safe walking, and vote for streets that a parent like me could take her children cycling on. Because if streets are safe for kids, then they’ll be safe for the rest of us.

Because when streets are transformed, it can change our journeys, our leisure time, and frankly our lives. Not just for now, but for generations to come.

We’re finally seeing real change in Westminster!

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