Extending cycle hire to 60 per cent of Southwark has been officially agreed. 

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Southwark Council approved the planned extension of the Santander Cycle hire scheme to Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Walworth, reaching Old Kent Road and Burgess Park.

The 18 planned docks for those areas are set to be delivered in the next two years.  

The council also plans to bring the scheme to Camberwell and Peckham, with 21 docking stations planned for 2023.  

Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for environment, transport management and the climate emergency, said: “It’s been a challenge for us for a long time about how we can extend the Santander Cycle scheme. 

“It’s really great we’ll be able to move out from which is now just a very small part of the borough around the congestion charge zone to cover about 60 per cent of the borough.” 

Cllr Livingstone said the council had been working with TfL, which agreed to fund docking stations along Jamaica Road, and developers British Land, which agreed to provide those at Canada Water.   

Councillors also approved a Local Implementation Plan (LIP) to be sent to the Mayor of London in a bid for more than £2 million in funding.  

The plan sets out where the money will go, with more than half a million pounds going to road safety and cycle training programmes, while £100,000 will go to increased cycle parking in the borough.  

The council has allocated £230,000 for developing a “walking network of quality routes and spaces” throughout Southwark.  

More than a quarter of a million has been set aside to improve access at Denmark Hill and Kensington Tube station, while £75,000 was allocated for improving access to cycleways across the borough.  

All councils are obliged to provide a LIP when applying for TfL funding to ensure plans are in line with the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, revised in 2018.