Pre-consultation engagement

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Talking to London’s communities - ‘Pre-consultation engagement’

We’re increasingly talking with communities and stakeholders about our proposals before we consult on them. These conversations help us to make the most of our consultations by raising awareness of our proposals, giving us a chance to answer people’s questions in advance and helping us to identify particular groups or stakeholders who we might want to speak with. On this page we explain this important element of our work and provide some examples.

Our approach to this work, which we call ‘pre-consultation engagement’ varies according to the circumstances of each set of proposals.

Throughout this year we’ll put even more effort into pre-consultation engagement, to encourage more public conversation about the future of transport, streets and neighbourhoods. We’ll particularly focus on engaging London’s communities in this work and put more energy and resource into engaging with under-represented groups. The case studies below demonstrate the importance of undertaking engagement with stakeholders and communities before we head into the consultation process.

Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road

We and the London Borough of Hounslow have made changes to Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road as part of an experiment. We ran a consultation on these changes from October 2022 to April 2023 to give local people an opportunity to tell us about their experiences of the scheme so far. However, we reached out to the community long before the consultation opened.

Firstly, in early 2021, we organised a series of ‘Community Conversations’ (one-to-one video calls with a member of TfL’s Local Communities & Partnerships team) enabling local people to ask questions about Cycleway 9. We used the outcomes from these conversations, together with other information such as monitoring data, to help us develop further changes to the scheme. In the summer of 2022, we visited businesses along Chiswick High Road and hand-delivered postcards raising awareness of the upcoming consultation and had face-to-face conversations with the people most affected by the scheme. The postcards contained a link to our webpage which provided more information about Cycleway 9 as well as a place to register for updates about it with us. We met a large number of local groups in person, including the Middlesex Association for the Blind and the Hounslow Disability Forum to discuss our plans for Cycleway 9. We also arranged a workshop with local ward councillors to help us plan how we should run our consultation, including how we should promote the opportunity to take part in it to local people.

More information about the Cycleway 9 scheme is available.

Walking and cycling between Wembley and Willesden Junction

We have been working closely with Brent Council on plans to make walking and cycling between Wembley and Willesden Junction easier and safer. We’ve also spoken to the local community early on, before we had started work on our detailed plans and used the outcomes of those discussions to help us to develop our proposals.

In the spring of 2023 we will open a public consultation on the first phase of our proposals, focussing on a section between Wembley Central and Harlesden stations. However, we’ve been discussing the scheme with local people for some time. From January to March 2020, we spoke with local communities to help us develop our proposals. The pandemic delayed our work but in March 2023 we published a report to explain the outcomes of our discussions with local people.

More information about the Wembley to Willesden Junction scheme is available.

Listening to the community at Battersea Bridge

The northern junction of Battersea Bridge has been the site of several serious collisions, including the tragic death of a man in early 2021. In immediate response to this we installed a brand new green man pedestrian crossing later that year. In the summer of 2022, ahead of a public consultation on further plans to make this junction safer for everyone, we set up a web page to explain our proposals. We also engaged directly with the local community, and those people who used of the junction to tell them about it. We did this because we knew local people and people who used the junction were concerned that it should be made safer, and we wanted to explain what steps we were taking to deliver for the community. We also made it possible for local people to tell us their thoughts, for example by completing a short survey to inform us who they felt should be prioritised relating to safety at the junction.

More information about the Battersea Bridge scheme is available.

Talking to London’s communities - ‘Pre-consultation engagement’

We’re increasingly talking with communities and stakeholders about our proposals before we consult on them. These conversations help us to make the most of our consultations by raising awareness of our proposals, giving us a chance to answer people’s questions in advance and helping us to identify particular groups or stakeholders who we might want to speak with. On this page we explain this important element of our work and provide some examples.

Our approach to this work, which we call ‘pre-consultation engagement’ varies according to the circumstances of each set of proposals.

Throughout this year we’ll put even more effort into pre-consultation engagement, to encourage more public conversation about the future of transport, streets and neighbourhoods. We’ll particularly focus on engaging London’s communities in this work and put more energy and resource into engaging with under-represented groups. The case studies below demonstrate the importance of undertaking engagement with stakeholders and communities before we head into the consultation process.

Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road

We and the London Borough of Hounslow have made changes to Cycleway 9 on Chiswick High Road as part of an experiment. We ran a consultation on these changes from October 2022 to April 2023 to give local people an opportunity to tell us about their experiences of the scheme so far. However, we reached out to the community long before the consultation opened.

Firstly, in early 2021, we organised a series of ‘Community Conversations’ (one-to-one video calls with a member of TfL’s Local Communities & Partnerships team) enabling local people to ask questions about Cycleway 9. We used the outcomes from these conversations, together with other information such as monitoring data, to help us develop further changes to the scheme. In the summer of 2022, we visited businesses along Chiswick High Road and hand-delivered postcards raising awareness of the upcoming consultation and had face-to-face conversations with the people most affected by the scheme. The postcards contained a link to our webpage which provided more information about Cycleway 9 as well as a place to register for updates about it with us. We met a large number of local groups in person, including the Middlesex Association for the Blind and the Hounslow Disability Forum to discuss our plans for Cycleway 9. We also arranged a workshop with local ward councillors to help us plan how we should run our consultation, including how we should promote the opportunity to take part in it to local people.

More information about the Cycleway 9 scheme is available.

Walking and cycling between Wembley and Willesden Junction

We have been working closely with Brent Council on plans to make walking and cycling between Wembley and Willesden Junction easier and safer. We’ve also spoken to the local community early on, before we had started work on our detailed plans and used the outcomes of those discussions to help us to develop our proposals.

In the spring of 2023 we will open a public consultation on the first phase of our proposals, focussing on a section between Wembley Central and Harlesden stations. However, we’ve been discussing the scheme with local people for some time. From January to March 2020, we spoke with local communities to help us develop our proposals. The pandemic delayed our work but in March 2023 we published a report to explain the outcomes of our discussions with local people.

More information about the Wembley to Willesden Junction scheme is available.

Listening to the community at Battersea Bridge

The northern junction of Battersea Bridge has been the site of several serious collisions, including the tragic death of a man in early 2021. In immediate response to this we installed a brand new green man pedestrian crossing later that year. In the summer of 2022, ahead of a public consultation on further plans to make this junction safer for everyone, we set up a web page to explain our proposals. We also engaged directly with the local community, and those people who used of the junction to tell them about it. We did this because we knew local people and people who used the junction were concerned that it should be made safer, and we wanted to explain what steps we were taking to deliver for the community. We also made it possible for local people to tell us their thoughts, for example by completing a short survey to inform us who they felt should be prioritised relating to safety at the junction.

More information about the Battersea Bridge scheme is available.

Page last updated: 01 May 2024, 12:19 PM