The London Borough of Islington has stolen the show at this year’s London Transport Awards. It won the title of transport borough of the year, and specific accolades for footway and public realm works, and for promoting business travel plans.
Professor David Begg, who chaired the judges, praised the ‘high level of enthusiasm’ for transport among both councillors and officers at Islington, and their success in developing partnerships and in providing better accessibility for disadvantaged groups. Distinctions include being benchmarked as the best authority for managing highway insurance claims and one of the best in London for reactive highway repairs. The borough has introduced a more responsive highways system built around a single database, and is working up a highways PFI to channel new investment into local roads. Islington’s walking and public realm award recognises its work in providing safer access to public transport on the Bemerton Estate through physical improvements such as new lighting, footway changes and clearer estate maps. Through its A1 travel plan project, it is working with clusters of local firms in the Angel-to-Archway corridor to encourage more sustainable business travel.
Among the other winners, Enfield was the most improved transport borough, Camden had the most innovative project – its school travel plans have cut school run traffic by 12% over the past 12 months – and Hounslow won the bus award for its new bus strategy.
London ~Technical Advisers Group~ vice-chairman, Roger Khanna, who retires next month as Hammersmith and Fulham’s director of direct services, won an award for his outstanding contribution to local transport in the capital over 32 years.
His achievements, which include introducing controversial controlled parking zones and traffic calming measures across the borough – coupled with a no-nonsense approach to enforcement – once earned him a different distinction – as the Evening Standard’s ‘most hated man in London.’
The awards are organised by the Centre for Transport Policy at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.