Cyclists protected by wands on Kensington High Street, London.
Michiel Broker
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has not ruled out taking control of Kensington High Street to prevent the local Tory council from ripping out a well-used cycleway.
Contractors started removing the protective wands on December 2 but were prevented from working by activists from Extinction Rebellion.
Speaking on LBC radio on December 3, Khan said he was considering “all options” to keep the cycleway operating until it has been appropriately evaluated. If the cycleway is removed, he said he would be seeking a refund of the £320,000 of public money given to Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC) to install the cycleway in September.
Transport for London (TfL) can convert a major road into a no-stopping “red route,” incorporating it into its strategic route network, but should the borough object, the decision would be elevated to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The emergency installation of pop-up cycleways—and widened sidewalks—across England was paid for by the central government.
Khan said the council was guilty of a “knee-jerk” reaction in starting to remove the cycleway only three months after it was installed and at least three months before it was due to be evaluated.
Removing the cycleway would “lead to more pollution and more gridlock in London,” he said, claiming the council was “giving an incentive to drive when you could easily use public transport, walk or cycle.”
“We are going to get back the money that we spent on that cycle lane,” he promised, “and also consider all other options about that particular road. It’s an important road.”
“Kensington High Street is the responsibility of the council,” he added. “We are trying to persuade them to do the right thing. This cycle lane is working. It’s used by thousands of cyclists. The council is ripping it out because a few people have signed a petition. Many of them are not residents. Many of them are not Londoners.”
Khan wants the cycleway to be left in place until its efficacy can be fully evaluated.
“We should let the cycle lane bed in for some time. After a few months we can review it. There is nothing wrong about tweaking things or changing it.”
Direct action
Activists from Extinction Rebellion successfully stopped workers from removing wands on Kensington High Street last night. The council had planned for the cycleway to be removed over five nights.
Those in favor of ripping out the cycleway have claimed it is unpopular but, according to the Evening Standard, officials from Kensington and Chelsea council told councilors that of the first 1,000 emails received about the cycle lane, 58% of respondents were in favor.
“Never confuse a few zealots with the majority view,” said former transport minister Steven Norris on Twitter earlier this week, claiming there was a “very vocal monocular cycling lobby which brooks no dissent.”
In 1996, Norris was in charge of launching the U.K. government’s National Cycling Strategy, aiming to double cycle use by 2002 and double it again by 2012. (The aim missed.)
Norris, a former car dealer self-billed as a convert to cycling’s cause, tweeted in August this year that “for millions [cycling is] just not an option. Suggesting it’s the answer to all our capacity ills is facile and unhelpful.”
However, back in 1996, Norris said that the National Cycling Strategy—which championed the installation of cycleways—was a “major breakthrough in transport thinking.”
Since then, a great deal has changed in London, including installing high-quality protected cycleways in many boroughs—the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has long been opposed to cycleways, with some councilors blaming them for air pollution and increased traffic congestion. A council report admitted that it was “”difficult to be certain” whether it was the cycleways or utility company roadworks that had caused a recent spike in motor traffic congestion on Kensington High Street.
BBC TV presenter Jeremy Vine, five local schools, the local NHS hospital, the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College, and Baron Bird of Notting Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have all voiced their support for the Kensington High Street cycleway.
Legal action
The Environmental Law Foundation, a charity that helps people use the law to protect and improve their local environment, has sent the council a pre-action protocol letter threatening to seek a judicial review to prevent the cycleway’s removal.
RBKC’s lead member for transport Cllr Johnny Thalassites, said in a statement: “Threatening us with legal action or financial penalties will make no difference to our decision, London boroughs aren’t here to be bullied into submission through sanctions.”
He added that the political decision to remove the cycleway—urged by the local Tory MP and the Tory London Assembly member—””isn’t political.”
“We decided to end the cycle lane trial because it wasn’t working,” he claimed, even though no evaluation of the cycleway has been carried out.
Shops on the street have been impacted by an economic downturn caused by the pandemic, but Cllr Thalassites said, “businesses have made it clear to us that this is not the time to be experimenting, when, frankly, our high streets are facing their toughest test in decades.”
TfL data shows that people walking, cycling and using public transport spend more than motorists in local shops. Conducted by Matthew Carmona from University College London’s Bartlett School of Planning, the 2018 research revealed that those not in cars spend 40% more each month in neighborhood shops than motorists.
