Kensington High Street cycle lane will happen ‘one day’

Justin Abbott, the founder of Better Streets for Kensington & Chelsea, is sanguine about losing his court battle with the royal borough, believing a safe cycle lane on Kensington High Street is only a matter of time. “One way or another, one day there will be a safe, protected bike lane on High St Ken,” Abbott told EG. “It defies belief,” he says, “that a 1.5km dangerous gap in a London-wide network will be there forever.” The short-lived 2020 segregated cycle lane down Kensington High Street became, briefly, a totemic mid-Covid-19 pandemic issue. With public transport shut down, more and more people had taken to their bikes. The City of London and other planning authorities announced pro-cycling policies and boroughs across London started to implement so-called low traffic neighbourhoods designed to cut through traffic and make walking and cycling safer and more attractive. The LTN measures were controversial and received much public and media criticism. However, most boroughs kept them in place. Residents brought a spate of unsuccessful High Court challenges attempting to get rid of them, mostly alleging a failure by the planning authority to properly consult. In Kensington and Chelsea, the opposite happened. In the face of vocal criticism, the borough abandoned an 18-month pilot after less than two months, drawing counter-criticism from the mayor of London, the London Cycling Campaign and many others. The borough then said it would reconsider the pilot but shelved the plans three months later. Queue Better Streets for Kensington & Chelsea, a campaign group founded by local resident Abbott. On behalf of the campaign, Abbott brought a judicial review of the decision not to reinstate the pilot. At a hearing in December, his legal team argued the council had made an irrational decision and hadn’t properly consulted on the matter. However, in a ruling handed down earlier this week, the High Court judge hearing the trial found there was no duty to consult and the decision was rational. “It is disappointing, but judicial reviews are notoriously difficult,” says Abbott. “And it is important to point out that the case was about administrative law, not the merits or demerits of active transport. Even so, Kensington High Street is still a dangerous, dirty, polluted thoroughfare.” ‘Local support’ Historically, the problem with both segregated and non-segregated cycle lanes has been that no single authority is directly in charge, he says. Transport for London can pay for and maintain cycle routes should it wish to, but unless they are on roads specifically controlled by TfL, such as red routes, the local planning authority must allow them. And cycle routes cross boroughs. It has become less of a problem in recent years as more and more London boroughs have given their support to TfL’s programme of segregated cycleway-building. There is, however, Abbott points out, an obvious gap in the network that crosses Kensington and Chelsea. The new segregated Cycleway 9, for example, runs from Kew Gardens and down Chiswick High Road before ending at the start of Kensington High Street. The segregated cycleways pop up again on the borders of the borough. This leads to thousands of cyclists a day cycling down Kensington High Street in the same lanes as all the other traffic. “Kensington and Chelsea is an outlier,” Abbott says. Segregated cycle routes “are being implemented by all the neighbouring boroughs and, among others, Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth, Lambeth and Southwark are all also in favour of active transport.” It is possible the borough might change its mind in future, says Abbott. He says there is much local support for cycle lanes. As well as many individuals, he says the idea is supported by the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College, 20 local schools, all the hospitals in the borough, Waitrose and the Embassy of the Netherlands. Even if that doesn’t happen, central government could designate Kensington High Street as a TfL route, which would mean it could build a segregated lane without the borough’s permission, says Abbott. While unlikely to happen right now “under a different administration, I could see it taking place in a couple of years time,” he says. And, it is important to point out, the borough hasn’t ruled out implementing a segregated cycle lane. “The judge has ruled in the council’s favour and dismissed the claim made by Better Streets,” the council said in a statement. “Our priority is to make Kensington and Chelsea a greener, safer and fairer place to live. We are happy to put legal challenges aside and look forward to working together on productive improvements to our streets.” The council says it is continuing to research the issue and has recently sought the views of its citizens’ panel. They are, they say, “carefully considering the findings.” To send feedback, e-mail newsdesk@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGPropertyNews