Judicial review to be heard this week over removal of cycle lanes on Kensington High Street early in trial period
The High Court will tomorrow begin hearing a judicial review against the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) over its decision to remove trial ‘protected’ bike lanes from Kensington High Street.
The resident group campaigning for safe cycling provision on Kensington High Street, Better Streets for Kensington and Chelsea (Better Streets) are represented by law firm Leigh Day.
The group claims a decision by the council not to reinstate cycle lanes it had removed after only seven weeks of an 18-month trial was unlawful.
They argue the decision was made as an ‘emergency’, without a formal council meeting and no public consultation.
The scheme was partly installed in October 2020. According to Leigh Day, at the time, RBKC pledged to monitor air quality, traffic flow and journey time to help identify possible improvements, which they were also required to do by Department for Transport guidance.
After only seven weeks the cycle lanes were removed, before installation of the scheme had been completed.
According to Better Streets, in that time the lanes were “hugely successful”, with cycle numbers more than doubling to 3-4,000 journeys a day. “Kids and key workers were able to ride safely to school and work, many for the first time”, the campaign site stated.
In January 2021, in response to legal letters from Better Streets, RBKC said that it would reconsider the removal decision in March.
However, the claimant argued that RBKC went back on this commitment, and decided instead “to develop plans to commission research into post-Covid transport patterns”.
Leigh Day environment team solicitor Ricardo Gama said: “The absence of a safe cycling route across Kensington and Chelsea is a dangerous and sometimes lethal anachronism which undermines the wider cycling network in London.
“Rather than letting their experimental cycle lane run its course to get a proper understanding of traffic, safety, air quality and health impacts, the borough took what our client believes was the perverse decision to remove it after only seven weeks.
“They then made a commitment to Better Streets that they would reconsider the decision to remove the lane. Instead they took what our client believes was a second perverse decision to carry out an ineffective consultation on cycling provision generally."
Gama added: “Better Streets are disappointed to find themselves in the High Court two years later with the borough having made no progress towards any safe cycling provision to get across this part of west London.”
Justin Abbott of Better Streets for Kensington and Chelsea said: “We’re grateful for the fantastic support of our legal team, including Leigh Day. But it’s ridiculous that a volunteer community group such as ours has had to spend two years on this case.
“The context is jaw-dropping. Our borough – RBKC – has 200km of road, and not a single km of protected cycle lane. It has blocked, hindered, ripped out, or promised and then not delivered, protected bike lanes across the borough. No other London borough has no protected bike lanes."
Lottie Winson
