The Mini-Hollands scheme was introduced in March 2014 by Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London. It took the form of a competition among outer London boroughs for a £100-million fund. Three boroughs – Waltham Forest, Enfield and Kingston – won £30 million each, and the remaining £10 million was shared by several other boroughs.

The scheme supported the boroughs to build Dutch-style cycling infrastructure such as traffic calming, segregated bike lanes, safety measures at junctions and blocking residential streets to car traffic. It aimed to encourage modal shift from car to bike for short journeys.^[1]

In June 2018 the Guardian reported^[6] on a study by Westminster University^[7] which interviewed 1,712 people in the three boroughs. The study found that after one year:

• While cycling increased by an average of 9 minutes a week, walking increased by 32 minutes a week;
• there was no evidence that the mini-Hollands benefited cycling at the expense of other modes: for example that time spent in cars was increasing due to congestion, or that walking was becoming less attractive;
• There was no significant reduction in overall car use;
• public attitudes to cycling became more positive, across demographic and socioeconomic groups.

Research published in the March 2021 edition of the Journal of Transport & Health^[8] measured the programme's impact on local residents. Among these are:

• health economic benefit of £724m from interventions costing £80m
• increased likelihood of meeting active travel and physical activity targets

In February 2018, CityMetric criticised the slow roll-out of the programme and reported flaws in public consultation and opposition from some residents.^[9]