Consulting with you

We want to work in partnership with our local communities, customers and stakeholders to improve our transport network and infrastructure. Effective consultation can help us shape how we will meet the diverse needs of everyone living, studying, working or visiting London.

The benefits of participating in our consultations include:

  • An opportunity for your views to help shape our schemes and support reaching the best proposal for local people/users
  • A mechanism for your voice to be heard
  • Updates on amendments or decisions on the proposals
  • That your views will help us make our decisions and shape future proposals or the way we consult going forward
  • A chance to give us key local information we weren't aware of

All the consultations we do are listed on our digital engagement platform, Have Your Say.

You can sign up there for updates on live consultations.

What we consult on

We consult on a variety of changes to London's transport infrastructure. These include, but are not limited to the:

  • Addition to or variation of a London bus network service
  • Closure or alteration of roads and footpaths on the Transport for London Road Network (changes to borough roads will be consulted on separately by London's boroughs)
  • Construction, alteration, maintenance and operation of London's transport system or transport policy

Some of these proposals we are legally required to consult on - we call these statutory consultations. We consult on other proposed changes because understanding how they may affect you and others will help us make better-informed decisions.

Consultation principles

All of our consultations follow the Gunning Principles. These principles have been developed through a series of cases in which the Courts have considered what makes a consultation fair.

These principles are:

  • Proposals are still at a formative stage - this means that when we consult a final decision on our proposals has not yet been made by our decision-makers
  • There is enough information to allow 'intelligent consideration' - the information we provide will be readily accessible, easily interpretable and relevant to the consultation and will be enough to enable consultees to offer an informed response
  • There is adequate time for consideration and response - we will ensure we allow enough time for consultees to participate in our consultations. The length of consultation required will depend on all the circumstances. Typically, we will aim to consult for a period of six weeks, but this can be slightly less or longer
  • 'Conscientious consideration' must be given to the consultation responses before a decision is made - our decision-makers will review and take on board the output of the consultation before deciding on how to proceed. They may decide to proceed with proposals as consulted upon, with amendments, or they may decide not to proceed at all

How we reach a decision

When we consult, we will use the output of the consultation to feed into our decision-making process.

While consultation results play an important role in our decision making, our final decision will also need to consider other relevant factors. This can include, but is not limited to, financial, legal, safety and technical factors relating to a proposed change. Some decisions, such as highway changes, may also depend on separate decisions that need to be made by London boroughs.

Once a decision is made, we will publish it on our consultation hub. At the same time, we will publish a consultation report that will explain:

  • What we consulted on
  • How we consulted
  • The summary output of the consultation process
  • Our next steps

This report may also include our response to key issues that were identified during the consultation. In some cases, we may publish a separate Response to Issues Raised report, following the publication of a Consultation Report.