Wembley to Willesden Junction walking and cycling changes
Update November 2023
We are consulting on the first phase of this project between Wembley Central and Harlesden stations where we are proposing a new high-quality Cycleway and improvements for pedestrians until Thursday 21 December 2023.
Please visit our consultation page (https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/wembley-harlesden) to have your say.
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Since April 2019, we have been working closely with Brent Council to develop a scheme that would make it easier for local people to walk and cycle between Wembley and Willesden Junction.
Our proposals for a new high-quality Cycleway between Wembley and Willesden Junction would make streets in the area safer and more pleasant by enabling people to walk and cycle more and drive less. This would help us to reduce air pollution, carbon emissions and congestion in the area.
The proposals would introduce new and improved pedestrian crossings over Harrow Road,better street lighting and more trees and plants to help make the area feel safer and more welcoming.
Previous engagement
From January to March 2020, we spoke with communities in the Wembley, Stonebridge, and Harlesden neighbourhoods to help us develop our proposals so that they meet local priorities. We published a detailed report on this engagement in March 2023. The report details who we spoke with, what we found, and includes actions and recommendations that we have taken forward. The pandemic delayed the publication of this report and the project overall as we were forced to pause work on some of our walking and cycling schemes.
Phase 1: Wembley Central station to Harlesden station
In Autumn 2022, vital investment was secured as part of TfL’s funding agreement with Government to take forward our key priority Healthy Streets schemes to make the capital's roads safer and more attractive for those walking and cycling.
We and Brent Council have since agreed to progress the first phase of walking and cycling improvements between Wembley Central station and Harlesden station.
Update (July 2023)
Since March 2023 we have been collating your ideas and suggestions for this scheme via our ‘ideas board’ on this page. Several of these ideas were specific to the Wembley to Willesden Junction project while others were more general in nature. If you want to find out more about this project, email us at: localcommunitiesandpartnerships@tfl.gov.uk and quote “Wembley to Willesden” in the subject line.
Update (August 2023)
Since March 2023 we have been collating your ideas and suggestions for this scheme via out ‘ideas board’ on this page. Several of these ideas were specific to the Wembley to Willesden Junction project while others were more general in nature. All your ideas and comments have been passed to the team developing the scheme. In Autumn 2023 we intend to launch our public consultation to carry on the conversation with the public. We originally planned to launch the consultation in spring 2023 but had to push this back slightly to accommodate some important work on the scheme's design.
If you want to find out more about this project, email us at: localcommunitiesandpartnerships@tfl.gov.uk and quote “Wembley to Willesden” in the subject line.
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We’d like to know your ideas about what information we should publish to explain the scheme, how we should promote the consultation, or what questions we should include in our consultation questionnaire. Tell us your thoughts on our ideas board. You can also ask us a question and register for scheme updates.
View All Ideasabout 1 year ago
On the consultation, ask why people don't use the bus
Tfl need to do more engagement of why sons people don't use the bus network, over private cars. This will slow tfl to focus on what needs improving.
9 months ago
Various responses to your questions
It would be good to know more about timescales and the dates of the next update in this scheme, as it seems to have paused several times, and dates are helpful to know whether things are on track and still taking place, or whether the plans have been ditched or are going nowhere. Promoting the consultation: please contact Brent cycling campaign who would be able to spread information about the consultation through their network of followers, similarly Mums for Lungs too. Harlesden Neighbourhood Forum have a dedicated air quality representative and councillor Mary Mitchell is Brent Council's active travel champion - they would both be good people to contact. It may also be worth contacting bike shops in the area to display posters or information about the consultation, and post details up at bus stops and tube stations too. There are also community noticeboards around Harlesden town centre and local parks where notices for the public can be displayed - these might be a good location too (though these noticeboards are often overlooked so the information would have to be bold and clear). I doubt whether it would be useful to use social media or 'next-door' forums to publicise the scheme as any 'normal' question or consultation like this has become highly politicised and ends up being 'complaints corner', rapidly going off-topic into conspiracy theories. So you may want to avoid that. Regarding what you should ask, it would be interesting to hear about people's challenges with active travel in this area are at present, and what prevents and what the blockers to making more of it happen. It would be interesting to know what people would do and how they would react should there be more active travel opportunities and how it would affect their lives (for better or worse I suppose). I feel these sort of consultations tend to give very binary responses of support, whereas hearing new cycling routes would make it quicker to get to work, or there's worries over delays to public transport because of road changes would give you some ideas on what issues there might be with the scheme to address them and iron those out - making it more successful in the long run. more descriptive answers also gives you an idea of how 'bothered' people are - someone could be negative about the scheme, but not actually mind whether it happens or not as they wouldn't use it. This would be recorded as an 'against' in the consultation, presumably? Other questions to ask: what active travel routes or infrastructure do people use already? I fear people who design the scheme may forget the (meagre) facilities we already have such as Church Path cycle route, Cyclehoop repair stands and bike hangars, pedestrianised zones, plus walks through our high quality local parks and canal routes. I wonder if this might throw up some 'hidden gems' of infrastructure and provide some options you could easily build into the scheme to make it more effective and have greater impacts? Also: what routes do people need and use already, and how they manage these, and ideas for routes through this area. It's all well and good looking at maps and traffic flows in the area, but like above, people have the knowledge of the area and can help identify roads that are suitable and pleasant for walking and cycling. For instance, if you are planning cycle routes through Harlesden Town centre to take people towards central London and Notting Hill, it looks obvious to go down Craven Park Rd and the High Street. However, going along Church Path, Roundwood Park and a potential Quietway along Doyle Gardens, you could be towards Kensal Rise and Ladbroke Grove without seeing much traffic by using routes closed to motor vehicles. But this may not be obvious from just looking at maps, and local knowledge could be really useful to identify steep roads, crowded roads and narrow pinch points, poorly maintained pavements, busy periods etc. Please bear this in mind! Good luck with the scheme. We need it.
about 1 year ago
Riding bikes in Harlesden is a suicide mission… no cycle lanes ANYWHERE & you share the road with 18 wheelers….less priority to vehicles!
harlesden is hostile to pedestrians and cyclists
7 months ago
Ideas to conduct the consulation
Look at other tfl consultations to decide what to consult on, eg Park Lane. Cover the expected impact on bike riding to schools, how bikes will be separated from lorries, how it will take cars off the road and ease congestion, which means faster bus journeys which take cars off the road, cover the ease of wayfinding for cyclists (don't force cyclists onto sidestreets with many turns: cyclists don't have navigation like cars do), explain how many more people will now be a safe 10 minutes from a tube station, explain where dangerous junctions are today and how they will be improved for acitve travel. To encourage participation, put posters with large qr codes on lamp posts along the route for pedestrians, cyclists and car passengers to find.
12 months ago
Visuals for before and after
The London Cycling Campaign regularly uses BetaStreets to create images of a road or junction before and after the redesign. They can be striking illustrations especially of what is possible and feasible in a given space.
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