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For the first time in several decades there are now more people cycling to work than driving in one London borough. And, incredibly, the number of people cycling to work in several other London boroughs will quite probably overtake he number who drive within a matter of months.

The borough that steals the show is Hackney. According to the latest census data, more than 15 per cent of Hackney residents now commute to work by bicycle, compared with 12 per cent who commute by car. Local councillors in Hackney are nothing if not ambitious and their goal is to see 30 per cent of all journeys to work made by bike by 2030. Not only that, but they are well on the way to hitting the target.

The other interesting thing is that people who cycle in Hackney look different to people who cycle in other parts of London. These are normal people in normal everyday clothes, making their way from A to B. They don’t need to wear Lycra or race around town on sports bikes because the roads cater for slow, safe and simple cycling that works for all sorts of people of all ages.

This hasn't happened by accident. Hackney's councillors have pursued planning and transport policies that make it easier for all their residents to get around and not just car-owners. And most Hackney residents don’t own a car – 65 per cent of households are car-free, up from 56% in 2001.

Hackney has restricted the amount of new car parking available in new residential developments and made it easier and safer for people to chose not to drive. Importantly, Hackney’s policies have focused on making sure that every scheme – whether it’s a new building or an upgrade of an existing road – improves the public realm and sense of place. That means some residential streets that had become rat runs for long-distance car commuters are closed to through motor-traffic and the streets become places for the people who live and work there instead.

In Islington – another London borough that has tried to make it safer and easier to cycle – 10 per cent of people now cycle to work, the same number as drive. Even in the less cycling-friendly areas of Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth, 8 per cent of residents get on their bikes and pedal to work.

However, this shift towards getting to work on two wheels isn’t happening all across London. In Westminster, only 5 per cent travel to work by bike and twice as many drive, despite the fact that only 27 per cent of households in Westminster own a car (down from 33 per cent in 2001). Westminster has never embraced the bicycle, neither has it had much of a focus on making its streets better for pedestrians. When it did try to ban parking on street corners to help elderly and less mobile residents cross the road, a well-coordinated lobby group campaigned vociferously against the move.

When new developments are built in the centre of London, Westminster insists a minimum number of new car parking spaces get built as well. This is a policy straight out of the 1970s and one of several that led the neighbouring borough of Kensington and Chelsea to register an official objection that Westminster’s planning policies are “bound to increase traffic congestion in central London”.

What Hackney proves is that people can and will shift from driving to cycling and other forms of transport if they feel they have a choice, freeing up the road network in inner London for people who really need it – buses and freight services, for example. In too much of London, however, the choice to cycle is only for the people fearless enough to deal with fast, congested roads. We can either fill up inner London with more and more cars, as is happening in Westminster, or we can start trying to make London work better for everyone, not just for those of us behind the wheel. Hackney proves that Londoners will take to cycling. All it needs is the right policies.