Council facing judicial review over removal of trial cycle lane

A campaign group, in collaboration with the Environmental Law Foundation, plans to bring a judicial review challenge against a London council's decision to dismantle a temporary cycle lane before its trial period had ended.

The cycle lane was installed on Kensington High Street as part of a £300,000 government-funded trial in September this year. Seven weeks later, Kensington and Chelsea Council decided to remove the lane after receiving complaints from borough residents and business owners.

The decision was met with criticism from many including campaign group, Better Streets for Kensington & Chelsea, which said the council did not consult users of the cycle lane before deciding to remove it.

Working with solicitors at the Environmental Law Foundation, the group has issued a pre-action protocol letter to the council informing them of their intention to bring a judicial review challenge against them.

In an open letter Cllr John Thalassites, Lead Member, Planning and Transport at Kensington and Chelsea, hit out against plans to challenge the decision and said removing the lane was based on feedback received from borough residents which mostly opposed the trial.

Cllr Thalassites said: "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.

"At the last count, we had over 1,000 emails in our active travel email inbox, split 58% for and 42% against the cycle lanes.

"Of people who identified as residents of the borough, the split was 31% for and 69% against.

"Locally, three quarters of businesses are against the scheme. On this basis we made our decision."

However, Better Streets for Kensington & Chelsea challenged claims that businesses on the road opposed the cycle lane. The group said: "We've asked businesses on the high street – they loved it and had no idea it was being removed."

In a statement, the campaign group said: "[The cycle lane] has been ripped out after just weeks. This is a scandal. During its brief life it was a huge success.

"Bicycle usage more than doubled to between 3,000 to 4,000 daily users. Safety improved. Families, School children, health workers, local shoppers, professors, students, commuters all enjoyed this route, to which there is no safe alternative.

"After a period of roadworks, according to RBKC's own data and TfL bus times, congestion wasn't even any worse."

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, labelled the council's decision a "knee jerk response" and said he is looking into "all other options" to oppose the council's decision.

Speaking in an interview on LBC last week, Mayor Khan said: "We're going to get back the money that we spent on that cycle lane, and we're also going to consider all other options about that particular road, because the reality is it's an important road.

Mayor Khan added: "It cost us £300,000 of taxpayers money to put those in. Not the council's money. Money from across the country."

The money came from funds intended to encourage cycling during the pandemic to allow travellers to socially distance and avoid public transport.

"The council owns the road, TFL doesn't. We control about 5% of roads in our city. The others are controlled by councils and we have a good relationship with most councils," Khan said.

"This council has persistently refused to have cycle lanes in their borough. This cycle lane is working its working really well. It's used by thousands of cyclists."

He claimed: "The council is ripping it out because a few people signed a petition. Many of them aren't residents, aren't even Londoners."

TFL data shows 4,000 cyclists a day were using the new lane on Kensington High Street in early October 2020, levels that would usually only be seen in summer months when cycling levels are higher.

Adam Carey