Reclaiming Kerbside: measuring the progress of Lambeth’s Kerbside Strategy

It’s been two years since Lambeth launched its kerbside strategy. We review the stats and figures outlining our progress to 25% kerbside by 2030.

The Challenge

In January 2023, Lambeth Council adopted its award-winning Kerbside Strategy, which builds of the Climate Action Plans goal to reallocate 25% of Lambeth’s kerbside to support resilience to climate change by 2030.

On most streets in Lambeth, the ‘kerbside’ is where you will find cars parked and all too often, not much else. This is not a fair or efficient use of space when most people in Lambeth don’t own a car. The kerbside is a public space – it belongs to all of us, and this strategy sets out ways we can use this great asset to tackle the climate crisis, and better represent the diversity, energy and ideas of our community.

The strategy centres around our Inclusive Design Principle, which is the idea that street furniture, such as cycle parking stands, greening, and hire bikes, should go in the kerbside, leaving our pavements free for people to walk and wheel.

This also supports several overarching goals:

• 85% of journeys in Lambeth to be made by walking, wheeling or public transport by 2041, in line with the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy
• 27% reduction in traffic by 2030 to help us reach Net Zero in line with our Transport Strategy and Climate Action Plan.

Lambeth is challenging the historically accepted idea that streets lined with parked vehicles are the norm rather than spaces for people to move, travel, and build community. In Lambeth, 60% of our households do not have access to a car, so we support our residents and those travelling to and through Lambeth to choose walking, cycling, and wheeling for everyday journeys.  

Our approach covers four key priorities:

1. Enable Accessible and Active Travel
2. Create Places for People
3. Increase Climate Resilience
4. Reduce Traffic and Transport Emissions.

Two years after launching the strategy, we have released our first progress report, highlighting the actions we’ve taken to reclaim the kerbside.

Action Taken

Kerbside Priority 1: Enable Accessible and Active Travel 

Since 2023, we have installed 266 new residential cycle hangars and 3 business cycle hangars, bringing the total number across the borough to 654. These hangars provide secure parking for 3924 bikes. We have also built 2.8km of new protected cycle tracks to create safe cycling routes for Lambeth residents.

In addition to offering cycle spaces for private bikes, we have installed 189 new parking bays for dockless e-scooters and e-bikes. These designated spaces help keep our pavements clear of clutter. Since launching the strategy, we have collaborated with our Accessibility Working Group to ensure residents' feedback informs our proposals. These reviews have helped us improve visibility through signage and colour contrast, provide accessible seating and pavements, and create a clear distinction between spaces for pedestrians and vehicles.

Kerbside Priority 2: Create Place for People 

We launched our Community Parklets scheme as part of our Big Shift programme. The parklets are parking space-sized parks placed in the kerbside. Through phase 1 of the programme, we have installed six new parklets, and installations for phases 2-4 are planned from May 2025 onwards.

We have also collaborated with local businesses in Brixton and Clapham to install three business parklets, providing extra space for customers while also contributing to greening and placemaking in the local area.

A great example of this work is the new kerbside flagship project, Kennington Oval Reimagined. This project has reallocated nearly 500 metres of kerbside space to 33 benches, 166 colourful planters containing over 2000 grasses, shrubs, herbs and flowers, 17 new trees, and numerous logs and boulders for children to play on.

Kerbside Priority 3: Increase Climate Resilience

Between 2023 and 2025, we planted 1851 trees on streets as part of Lambeth’s Urban Forest Strategy (opens in a new window). Some of these trees have been planted in the kerbside to accommodate the 2m pavement width needed for accessibility. To facilitate this, we have developed and tested a new kerbside tree pit design, which has been trialled in five locations. These pits feature

• a drainage channel behind the pit for surface water run off
• a large trapezoidal shape to provide more space for the tree roots
• root protection barriers to prevent roots from growing into utilities or causing road surface damage
• biochar-enriched soil to support healthy tree growth.

Alongside improving tree canopy cover on Lambeth streets, we have also installed 13 Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) along our roads. SuDS are planting beds designed to soak up excess rainwater and slow water flow into our sewer system, reducing the risk of surface water flooding.

Kerbside Priority 4: Reduce Traffic and Emissions Transport

To support businesses as the number of deliveries made increases, we’ve created opportunities for low-carbon deliveries through our shared cargo bike service. As of April 2025, 33 businesses have signed up to use the service, and between 2023 and 2025, our collective OurBike cargo fleet was used for 8259km of journeys.

We have also launched our new Electric Vehicle Strategy to enhance the provision of electric vehicle charging in Lambeth. The strategy aligns with our Inclusive Design Principles to keep pavements free of obstruction and ensure 2m-wide pavements. Over the past two years, we’ve installed 348 new EV chargers along with 1.8 km of dedicated EV bays. Additionally, we have introduced a new ‘own and operate’ model, where the council directly owns and manages the EV charging infrastructure. This approach allows Lambeth to maintain control over pricing, reliability, and accessibility, while ensuring that revenue is reinvested into improving and expanding the EV network.

All of Lambeth’s charging points are powered by 100% green, renewable energy!

The Results

In the two years since launching the Kerbside Strategy, we’ve made huge changes to the kerbside in Lambeth. These changes have been delivered by multiple teams across the Council, and include things like:

• An additional 189 dedicated parking bays for e-bikes and e-scooters so they don’t clutter our pavements.
• A further 2.3km of our kerbside used for protected cycle tracks.
• Community parklets in 6 wards in Lambeth.
• An additional 1.8km of our kerbside used to install dedicated Electric Vehicle charging bays.

As of April 2025, we have 64.5 km of sustainable kerbside, increasing from 6% to 10.2% of kerbside within the borough.

This strategy is part of a broader programme to create neighbourhoods fit for the future. Since 2020, we’ve delivered 98km of street improvements that enable active travel. This includes work on the kerbside strategy, seven healthy neighbourhoods, and fourteen healthy routes.

The broader work of the kerbside strategy supports Lambeth’s ambition to shift away from polluting travel methods to more sustainable and active travel.

The pie chart shows a breakdown of all the different sustainable kerbside uses in Lambeth as of April 2025. It demonstrates the variety of ways we can harness these spaces, making active, sustainable travel easier and more appealing to our residents.

Reflections

Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, said:

This report proves that our streets in our busy London borough can be reimagined to adapt to the challenges of a twenty-first-century city.

“Our kerbside space is one of the largest public assets we own, and we’re using it to help more people walk and cycle and make access to public space more equitable.  From climate resilience to active travel and cleaner air, our achievements in delivering the Kerbside Strategy so far highlight our ambition to make Lambeth a fairer, greener, and more liveable borough.

“We are proud to deliver these positive changes to our streets and build neighbourhoods fit for the future.