Cyclists protected by wands on the now removed cycleway on Kensington High Street, London.
A freedom of information (FoI) request has revealed behind-the-scenes coordination between a borough council and a business group over the December 2020 dismantling of a pop-up cycleway on London’s Kensington High Street.
The head of news at Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC) edited what was supposed to be an independent press statement from the chair of Kensington Business Forum (KBF), reveals the FoI request by London-based scientist Steve Pettitt.
Names on the FoI documents have been redacted, but according to Linkedin, RBKC’s head of news is currently Lyndsey Hannam, and KBF’s chair is Tom Frost, a director of London real estate firm Bricks & Mortar Consulting.
RBKC dismantled the well-used cycleway in early December last year. It had been installed in September thanks to £320,000 provided by central government via Transport for London, which controls many of London’s roads.
According to redacted emails, RBKC’s lead member for transport wrote to resident associations on November 17, suggesting that if RBKC had not taken the money and installed the cycleway, “we may have lost control of roads.”
(RBKC’s lead member for transport is Cllr Johnny Thalassites.)
Khan do
Speaking on LBC radio on December 3, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that he would be seeking a refund of the £320,000 given to RBKC. Khan said the council was guilty of a “knee-jerk” reaction in removing the cycleway 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 appears from the emails provided in the FoI request that the council was lukewarm on the cycleway. “We recognize local people had legitimate concerns ... about the route and its effect on journey times,” wrote RBKC’s lead member for transport on November 17.
RBKC sought views on the cycleway from business groups, disability organizations and resident associations. At the end of November, RBKC’s head of news edited the provided statement from the Kensington Business forum’s chair.
“If you don’t mind, I’ve made some suggestions to reference the removal of the lane directly without adding too many more words,” coached RBKC’s head of news.
“Let me know if this works for you,” the head of news added, “don’t want to put words in your mouth that you’re not happy with.”
In the email of November 26, the head of news told KBF’s chair they would be supplying the edited statement to the press.
“At the moment,” said the head of news, “my thinking is that I’ll give this to the Evening Standard as exclusive business coverage for Monday, after residents gets letters at the weekend and we expect some coverage in the Mail on Sunday.”
“Agreeing statements with partners, community groups, and stakeholders in advance of announcements is standard practice” said a Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson.
The spokesperson—who confirmed that the council’s lead member for transport is Cllr Thalassites and head of news is Lyndsey Hannam—added:
“The Council did exactly the same when announcing other projects like 20mph across the borough; it also did the same when starting the cycle lane trial in the first place.”
Usage
In a November 24 email, KBF’s chair told the council:
“You know how keen I am on a greener Kensington but we need to ensure locals & visitors are not discouraged by journey times or loading restrictions...”
Computer analysis of traffic cameras on Kensington High Street has since shown that, since the dismantling of the cycleway, average journey times for motorists appear to have increased.
According to the Bike is Best campaign group, Kensington High Street was blocked by parked cars for 63.6% of the time during the last week of December.
This new study, cited in The Guardian on January 1, 2020, will be embarrassing for Kensington and Chelsea council, especially as its officers appeared to use leading language when emailing in October and November for third-party views on the cycleway.
“Bluntly, we are considering whether to retain, modify or abandon he [sic] scheme,” said RBKC’s lead member for transport in a November 17 email to Kensington and Chelsea Chamber of Trade and Commerce.
“One of our stated goals for the project had been to help businesses,” continued RBKC’s transport lead.
“I am anxious that your members are not finding it a help,” suggested the email.
“If you had a position, and do oppose the scheme,” prompted the transport lead, “then we will take that very seriously indeed.”
Counts
Much of the cycleway criticism was based on supposed lack of use by cyclists, but a separate freedom of information request found that the council’s figures show this to be untrue.
According to automated counters monitored by an external agency, cyclists accounted for 23% of the traffic on Kensington High Street during a week in October, when the cycleway was operational.
The agency informed the council that manual counts had discovered that the sensors had undercounted the number of cyclists using the road. Between 8 am and 9 am on October 15, the agency counted 576 cyclists using the road beside the Derry Street junction.
However, according to actor Nigel Havers, writing in the Daily Mail on November 21, “hardly any cyclists use ... this disastrous, poorly designed scheme [on Kensington High Street].”
Havers—who claimed in the Daily Mail piece that cyclists “do not obey the laws of the road”—was convicted of drink driving in the 1990s, and perhaps he now has problems with his vision because he added, “squinting up and down the road, you are hard-pressed to spot more than one or two [cyclists using the cycleway] at any time.”
Before it was dismantled, 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 all voiced their support for the cycleway.
In a letter to FoI respondent Steve Pettitt, RBKC’s FoI officer told him that his request for the minutes of the meeting at which the decision to remove the cycleway was taken could not be provided.
“The decision to remove the cycle lane was not taken at a meeting,” revealed the FoI officer, “hence there are no minutes.”
Article amended on January 2, 2020, with statement from Kensington and Chelsea Council.
