London, England, United Kingdom
City of London Pedway and Barbican Highwalks
The Pedway was a post-war City of London plan to lift pedestrians onto a first-floor network of walkways above traffic; only fragments were built, with the most complete surviving section on and around the Barbican Estate and London Wall. The City of London Corporation owns the highwalks, and routes it declares a 'City Walkway' under the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1967 carry a statutory public right to pass on foot.
Governance
Who owns it, who runs it, what the rules are.
- Owner
- The City of London Corporation owns the surviving pedway network and the Barbican Estate, including the highwalk across the estate's common areas. Newer walkways built through private developments, such as London Wall Place, can remain in private ownership while being declared City Walkway by agreement with the Corporation.
- Operator
- City of London Corporation; the Barbican highwalk is managed by the Department of Community and Children's Services (Barbican Estate Office) under a 2012 service level agreement with the Department of the Built Environment.
- Hours
- No published opening hours found. Routes declared City Walkway carry a statutory right to pass on foot, so they are in principle open at all times, subject to conditions in each declaration such as off-peak maintenance closures.[03]
- Public right
- On declared City Walkways the public has a statutory right to pass and repass on foot only. This is weaker than a highway because the route is not maintainable at public expense. Sections not declared, or declared with conditions, may be closed by the owner for maintenance or public-safety reasons.
- Who pays
- The Corporation funds Barbican highwalk upkeep from its own budgets. A 2020 report found that the £72,630 budget transferred in 2012 covered only reactive surface repairs and that no budget existed for planned inspection and maintenance. Privately built City Walkways are maintained by the owner under the walkway agreement.
Legal instruments
- City of London (Various Powers) Act 1967, sections 5–6 (City Walkway) ↗Lets the Corporation declare a way a City Walkway by resolution; the public then has a right to pass and repass on foot, but the way is not a highway maintainable at public expense.[03]
- City Walkway declaration resolutions (Court of Common Council / Planning and Transportation Committee) ↗Individual resolutions declare each route; those made under walkway agreements can attach conditions allowing the owner to close for maintenance at off-peak hours or suspend access for public safety.[04]
- Grade II listing of the Barbican Estate (2001) ↗Listed building controls apply to the estate's fabric, including the podium on which the highwalks run.[05]
Governing bodies
Open issues
- Barbican residents have complained about the poor condition of the highwalk, and a 2020 report said maintenance had been 'kicked around by a number of Committees'.
- Redevelopment keeps removing pedway fragments, including the St Alphage and Moorfields highwalks, while some new schemes add bridges back.
- Whether the 2020 £125,000-a-year planned maintenance bid was funded has not been verified.
Timeline
- Charles Holden and William Holford's reconstruction plan for the City proposes separating pedestrians from traffic at upper level.[01]
- Construction of the Barbican Estate, with its raised podium and highwalks, begins; the estate is completed in 1976.[05]
- City of London (Various Powers) Act 1967 creates the 'City Walkway' status, giving the public a right to pass and repass on foot.[03]
- By the mid-1980s the Pedway scheme is effectively discontinued amid rising costs and conservation opposition.[01]
- The Barbican Estate is listed Grade II on 5 September 2001.[05]
- Responsibility for the City Highwalk across the Barbican common areas moves to the Department of Community and Children's Services under a service level agreement.[02]
- London Wall Place adds new walkway bridges, partially reviving the pedway idea.[01]
- A City committee report finds the Barbican Highwalk maintenance budget 'wholly inadequate' and proposes a £125,000-a-year planned maintenance bid.[02]
What it cost · who pays
- Annual highwalk maintenance budget (Barbican common areas) · 2012
- £72,630Covers contract servicing and breakdown maintenance including signage; about £84,000 by 2020[02]
- Peak annual surface repairs · 2020
- over £120,000Report states some years' highwalk surface repairs exceeded £120,000[02]
- Proposed planned maintenance programme · 2020
- £125,000 per yearBid proposed from 1 April 2021 to the Resource Allocation Sub Committee; outcome not verified[02]
The story
The City of London Pedway grew out of post-war reconstruction planning. The 1947 proposals by Charles Holden and William Holford for the bombed City envisaged separating pedestrians from vehicles by placing walkways at first-floor level. The City of London Corporation folded the idea into its development plan in the 1960s, and new office blocks were expected to provide upper-level walkways that would eventually join into a continuous network. The plan imagined about 30 miles of walkway spanning the City.
The most complete part of the network was built on and around the Barbican Estate, designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and constructed between 1965 and 1976. Its residential blocks sit on a raised podium crossed by highwalks that link to London Wall and the Museum of London. Elsewhere, sections appeared at Lower Thames Street, Cannon Street and around the old Stock Exchange, but no coherent network was ever completed.
The legal basis for public use is the City Walkway, created by the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1967. The Corporation may declare a suitable way a City Walkway by resolution. The public then has a right to pass and repass on foot, but the route is not a highway maintainable at public expense. Declarations made under agreements with developers can attach conditions, including maintenance closures at off-peak hours and suspensions for public safety.
By the mid-1980s rising costs and conservation opposition had effectively ended the scheme. Many walkways were left as dead-end stairs and isolated bridges, and redevelopment has since removed others, including highwalks at St Alphage and Moorfields. London Wall Place, completed around 2017, partly reversed the trend by adding new walkway bridges that reconnect parts of the network. In 2017 the Moorfields Highwalk ended in mid-air above a Crossrail-related building site.
Maintenance is a recurring governance problem. In 2020 a City report told the Corporate Asset Sub Committee that six committees dealt with different parts of the Barbican and that the highwalk had been passed between them. The £72,630 annual budget transferred in 2012 covered only reactive surface repairs, and the report proposed a £125,000-a-year programme of planned inspection and maintenance. The Barbican Estate has been listed Grade II since 2001, which constrains how the podium and highwalks can be altered.
Questions people ask
What was the London Pedway?
Who owns the Barbican highwalks?
Do I have a right to walk on the Barbican highwalks?
Why was the Pedway scheme abandoned?
Are the Barbican highwalks listed?
Sources
- City of London Pedway Scheme — Wikipedia (2025)
- Barbican Highwalks: Planned Maintenance of the Public Realm (Corporate Asset Sub Committee report) — City of London Corporation (2020)primary
- City Walkway (Public Access Map dataset) — City of London Corporation via data.gov.uk (2025)primary
- 100 Bishopsgate City Walkway resolution, Appendix 1 — City of London Corporation (2021)primary
- Barbican Estate history — City of London Corporationprimary
- Pedways of the City of London — Diamond Geezer (blog) (2017)
About this record
Confidence medium · reviewed 2026-10-19. Governance facts (City Walkway status, 2020 maintenance report, 2012 SLA, listing date) come from primary City of London documents. The 30-mile planned length is widely repeated but here sourced only to a blog; a primary 1960s Corporation document should be found. No authoritative figure for the built length was found, so the commonly quoted 'about one mile' was not used. Sources say the scheme ended in the mid-1980s (some say late 1970s, with a 1976 'minimum network'); a 1990s abandonment date was not supported. No published hours policy was found; check whether specific Barbican highwalk segments are declared City Walkway or merely permissive. The outcome of the 2020 £125,000 funding bid was not verified. The 1967 Act text itself was not fetched from legislation.gov.uk. Not found: Built length.
Map geometry: 885 corridor features, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), as of 2026-10-20. Levels come from OpenStreetMap tags and can be incomplete.
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