"Old Town" is the historic and informal name given to the area in Croydon town centre where the first settlements in Croydon were located in Saxon times. As outlined in the Old Town Masterplan, infill development, better transport links, and public realm improvements are expected to deliver change in this area. These changes are to be designed sensitively to respect the historic character of Old Town, which will assist in knitting the urban fabric of the Old Town back together.

Old Town has strong public transport connections.  Vehicular and cycle movement within the area are constrained by several one-way streets, dual carriageways and tram infrastructure. The main constraint on pedestrian movement within Old Town is Roman Way, designed as an urban motorway and dominated by vehicular traffic. 

The Council wishes to improve walking and cycling facilities in the Old Town for the following key reasons:

• There will be increased demand for cycling and walking facilities which will need to be accommodated in a safe, attractive and efficient manner.
• To discourage people from driving into central Croydon from outside the area (especially those short journeys of less than 5km).
• If people choose to walk and cycle rather than travel by public transport this will help minimise pressure on capacity and associated investment required in additional road and public transport infrastructure, increase health and wellbeing, and contribute towards minimising carbon emissions.

Reconnecting Old Town Liveable Neighbourhood

To create a greener, more sustainable and attractive public realm where people chose to walk and cycle Croydon’s has developed proposals to ‘Reconnect Old Town’.  These proposals include:

• Replacing subways at Old Town roundabout with surface level crossings to improve safety and to provide more direct walking routes and new cycle routes;
• New trees, sustainable drainage and reallocating road space for pedestrians and cyclists to turn an unhealthy Roman Way into a healthy boulevard;
• Providing spaces such as Minster Green with new urban greening, sustainable drainage, resurfaced footways, seating, lighting and public art to improve the quality and function of public spaces in Croydon's Old Town area;
• Introducing new walking and cycling routes, crossings, and refurbishing the Booth Road – Reeves Corner subway to improve access between residential areas to the west of Roman Way and the main area of Old Town to the east;
• Reducing speeds on traffic dominated roads to improve safety;
• New cycle routes, improved footways and new / improved crossings to create better walking and cycling facilities in the surrounding neighbourhood.

These proposals were accepted into Transport for London’s Liveable Neighbourhood Programme which was paused in December 2021 pending confirmation of TfL's long-term funding package.

Whilst this funding is paused the Council is working to progress a number of low cost initial improvements to the area using Croydon’s Growth Zone and Section 106 funding (contributions from developers to mitigate the impacts of their developments). 

Current Proposals

On many of the streets in Old Town there is a relatively low volume of traffic which can make it feel safe to cycle in Old Town in comparison to the neighbouring major roads.  A key constraint on cycling is the large number of one-way streets in the area. 

The Council’s proposals are to allow cyclists to contraflow on the following streets:

• Church Road
• Duppas Hill Terrace
• Laud Street
• Old Palace Road
• Queen Street
• Scarbrook Road
• Sheldon Street
• Southbridge Place
• Wandle Road
• Warrington Road

It is proposed that cycles will be exempted from the one way restrictions and will be able to bypass the no-entry signs using a segregated "cycle gap".  These contra-flowing cyclists will then be able to continue along the rest of these streets (unsegregated from general traffic travelling in the opposite direction).  In order to provide these facilities there are will also be associated changes to parking, waiting and loading to provide the cycle gaps at the ends of the streets.

Download the Old Town Contraflows plan (PDF, 890KB)

It is proposed that the cycle contraflows within Croydon’s Old Town will be implemented under permanent traffic regulation orders (TROs), seeking comments from the public on the proposals prior to any scheme being implemented.

Read details of the proposed traffic orders

If you have any questions, or require further information, please contact:

highwayimprovements@croydon.gov.uk