Major roads and town centres across London are to be rapidly overhauled in order to create space for a huge increase in cyclists and pedestrians, Sadiq Khan has announced today.

TfL have today unveiled their 'London Streetspace' programme which they claim will transform London's streets to accommodate a possible ten-fold increase in cycling and five-fold increase in walking.

Greenwich, Merton and Putney are included in early plans which will see new cycling networks, wider footpaths and reduced traffic as part of a "major new strategic shift."

With London's public transport capacity currently running at a fifth of pre-crisis levels, millions of journeys a day will need to be facilitated in other ways.

Cycling and walking are thought to be key once lockdown measures are eased, otherwise "London risks grinding to a halt, air quality will worsen and road danger will increase."

TfL say they are "rapidly repurposing London's streets" to prevent from this happening, and are preparing them for unprecedented demand for walking and cycling.

The 'Streetspace' schemes are temporary and will be under frequent review, but could become permanent.

Working with London's boroughs, TfL say there are three key areas to the plans.

Firstly, the rapid construction of strategic cycling networks using temporary materials, with new routes at landmark locations aimed at reducing overcrowding on the Underground.

Secondly, local town centres will be transformed to enable safer journeys on foot and by bike, with wider footways in London's cramped streets so people can safely walk past whilst socially distancing.

Thirdly, reducing traffic on residential streets as has happened during lockdown will create low-traffic neighbourhoods and allow more people to walk and cycle daily.

TfL has already begun making improvements at Euston Road, Camden High Street and in Hackney, but improvements and new routes could be made from Merton to Elephant and Castle plus Pimlico and Putney.

In south east London, pace for cycling will be created from Catford town centre and Lewisham via the A21, and the Cycleway 4 scheme between Tower Hill and Greenwich will be accelerated.

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, said: “The capacity of our public transport will be dramatically reduced post-coronavirus as a result of the huge challenges we face around social distancing.

"Many Londoners have rediscovered the joys of walking and cycling during lockdown and, by quickly and cheaply widening pavements, creating temporary cycle lanes and closing roads to through traffic we will enable millions more people to change the way they get around our city."

Khan added that anyone who can from home must continue to do so for some time, with the new emergency measures helping just those who need to travel to work.

Giulio Ferrini, Sustrans London Head of Built Environment, said they were "excited to see ambitious plans at a London-wide and borough level."

"Now is the time to take positive action that will give all Londoners a cleaner city to live and work in.

"Bold actions from boroughs today can make a tangible difference to Londoners’ daily lives and will lead to a healthier, happier and fairer London as travel restrictions are lifted in the weeks to come.”