- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Swiss Cottage proposals (TfL artist's impression).jpgWestminster Council seeks judicial review of Cycle Superhighway 11
Westminster Council has being accused of putting political motivations ahead of people’s safety after it emerged that it is seeking a judicial review of works being undertaken for Cycle Superhighway 11 (CS11) at Swiss Cottage in the neighbouring London Borough of Camden, a route that is proposed to run into the West End.
News of the legal action was broken by Guardian journalist Peter Walker, and comes at a time when the relationship between the Tory-run council and Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan are particularly strained after the local authority last week vetoed his plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street.
The move was condemned by London Cycling Campaign (LCC) and the walking charity, Living Streets, who in a joint statement said that the council’s stance on both schemes “demonstrates the actions of a leadership apparently determined to oppose positive moves to improve roads for those walking and cycling anywhere and everywhere they can.”
They said that the council’s apparent prioritisation of “motor traffic over walking, cycling, business and our health … is in direct contradiction to the council's own policies,” citing a claim in its July 2014 Westminster Transport & Movement report that walking and cycling are "particularly important" to it.
“Once more council leaders have opposed a scheme that would offer major improvements for walking and cycling, and one not even inside their borough this time,” they continued, urging the local authority to follow through on its pledge to improve conditions for people on bike or foot, including through ensuring CS11 is built as soon as possible.
They added: “By its actions Westminster Council is putting people needlessly at risk of harm for purely political reasons.
“We urge it to put people’s safety first and stop attempting to wreck efforts to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on London’s roads.”
Initially unveiled while Boris Johnson was Mayor of London, work to construct CS11 was finally due to begin on CS11 at the intimidating Swiss Cottage gyratory next month.
That’s almost two years after a consultation found 60 per cent support in favour of plans including closing dates at Regents Park to motor vehicles for 20 hours each day, leading campaigners to urge the Mayor to push through the scheme.
> London Cycling Campaign urges Sadiq Khan to push through Regents Park Cycle Superhighway
According to the Guardian, Transport for London (TfL) has already been notified of one application for judicial review from a prominent opponent of the scheme, Hampstead-based lawyer Jessica Learmond-Criqui.
A source in the mayor’s office told the Guardian: “The fact that Westminster councillors are now trying to stop a new cycle route being built just weeks after pulling the plug on Oxford Street improvements is disgraceful.
“There is an urgent need for safer cycle routes into central London and there is an equally strong case for pedestrianising Oxford Street. The idea that Westminster council think they can hold the rest of London to ransom is totally unacceptable.”
However, a spokeswoman for Westminster Council defended its actions, telling the newspaper that “residents are overwhelmingly opposed to the Cycle Superhighway 11 proposals. In particular, they have raised concerns about the impact of traffic displacement on congestion and air quality in the streets adjacent to the proposed route.
“We have been in discussions over the last two years with TfL about residents’ concerns but, despite assurances, we have yet to receive any further information about the wider impacts of the scheme and how these may be mitigated.”
She added: “As TfL is starting to proceed with the Swiss Cottage section without our support for the scheme as a whole, we have been left with no choice but to back our residents and to legally challenge the scheme.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- espressodan 11 min 59 sec ago
Work in IT. Cannot for the life of me figure out what could possibly be so inflexible about IT infrastructure.
- espressodan 15 min 55 sec ago
In Qld, Oz you can ride of the pavement. Nothing illegal about leaving the road via the drop kerb, rolling across the adjacent crossing then...
- wtjs 40 min 8 sec ago
after I said that if they wouldn't tell me the outcome of a submission I would have to make an FOI request for it...
- Bungle_52 47 min 14 sec ago
In Gloucestershire I've been having an email dialogue with Robert Vestey who has recently decided that close passes will get an advisory letter...
- Sriracha 1 hour 9 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
- Dnnnnnn 1 hour 13 min ago
I take "rat running" to be taking shortcuts through streets which aren't really suitable (at least when lots of people do the same thing)....
- tubasti 1 hour 36 min ago
More likely, the fork offset was increased to offset the gain in trail effected by the use of fatter tires.
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 11 min ago
Note that only one of them was actually used by him as a race bike (the 2010 Madone) and that not in his "glory" years, I'm sure one of his Tour...
- David9694 2 hours 40 min ago
You have to wonder how many drivers are merrily writing-off their cars this way. Nearly all the coverage is flooding related - Chippenham and...
Add new comment
14 comments
Not forgetting that the westminster shite-shower are attempting to sabotage a scheme that is actually in the borough of Camden.
Protests against westminster council could be seen as supporting the mayor of London - who hasn’t been in any rush to install the sort of infra that was brought in by his predecessor.
I still haven’t gotten over the fact that he gave the mayoral commissioner’s job to Will ‘still learning the ropes’ Norman,who still has to show what he’s got, over and above the likes of Rachel Aldred, Chris Boardman, Brian Deagan or Andrew Gilligan.
Gilligan warned of stalling on the progress that had been made. ..and,
two years on….?
Westminster borough council now is apparently in thrall to the malevolent Hampstead harpie Learmond Criqui - ‘for it is she’ - she of the misguided, somewhat depraved and delusional spectacle, that saw children dressed in pollution masks to protest against….
a safe cycling route!…. through a park!!
Perhaps someone took this idea a bit further and got some other children to chuck some tacks on the ground in Regent’s Park?
Sadiq was rather caught up in the engineering detail of implementing the Regents Park/CS11 scheme that would have meant ….errrm…
leaving the Regent’s Park gates locked.
For just a bit. Longer. But not. That long.
If Sadiq wants to redeem himself he could do so -
(how many billion is the Silvertown motor traffic tunnel expected to cost?
How much extra traffic will be attracted/created?
What else could those billions be spent on?
Post card to sadiq anyone?
Will he see a way to roll out low-car / no-car neighbourhoods across the capital?
Keeping the motors to a ‘through-motor-traffic-grid’?
Hmmm….but who’s that latest appointee of Sadiq’s?
Heidi Alexander…? Who's that then?
Her recent claim to fame re cycling has not been exactly confidence inspiring to say the least!
The government says it will consider new laws to tackle dangerous cycling.
Theresa May made the commitment in PMQs when asked about the trial of a cyclist who knocked over and killed a woman.
Labour MP Heidi Alexander said this law was "hopelessly outdated and wholly inadequate".
Well. Just as well she’s not been given a job involving decisions impacting cycling then eh!
What’s that …..
new deputy mayor for……transport !!!
Oh F F S
It seems us cycle campaigning folk have got our work cut out then.
And for those of you whose blood pressure isn't high enough: http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/environment/pupils-and-parents-protest-at-pollution-around-hampstead-and-highgate-1-4933436
"Schoolchildren and parents staged a protest against the pollution around schools throughout Hampstead and Highgate which they claim is choking them to death.
"Donning face masks, they called on London mayor Sadiq Khan to intervene to stop the Cycle Superhighway 11 (CS11) and the High Speed Rail 2 (HS2 schemes in their tracks.
"They fear both planned projects will bring 475 extra cars and lorries per hour to the narrow streets around schools and pose a real threat to their health."
This is ironic given that It's often parents who clog Fitzjohn's Avenue with their cars doing the school run.
These children are actually on Haverstock Hill, a road that is already busy and won't be affected much by the changes at Swiss Cottage.
I think Learmond-Criqui is a bit "Oh, won't somebody think of the children!?!"
(presumably because, "Oh, won't somebody think of my massively expensive and oversized SUV?!?" doesn't elicit the same emotional response...).
(edited: typo)
Disgraceful behaviour from Westminster but par for the course. My experience is limited to a year of commuting from Hampstead to Victoria in 2018, but what should have been a pleasant mix of parks and back streets was actually twelve months of being tailgated by rat runners and horrendous traffic fumes. Being a pedestrian on Victoria street isn't much fun either.
The Mayor should take the Westminster leadership on and win, just like Boris did, but I'm not holding my breath (which is good advice at many junctions in Westminster!).
I was there the other day and was pleased to see yellow spray marks for the work that WAS to start soon. Westminster Council really seem to be doing the opposite of good for their community and environment.
Cycling in this country is a parallel to Grenfell Tower; politically motivated actions are killing cyclists. Where is the media outrage?
Sorry, I forgot, it's only cyclists, nobody important.
"They said that the council’s apparent prioritisation of “motor traffic over walking, cycling, business and our health … is in direct contradiction to the council's own policies,”"
The Local Government Ombudsman is now so toothless that a council can literally do exactly the opposite of its own policies and there's nothing anyone can do, as I know from bitter experience of having to deal with that tenth rate shambles, South Gloucestershire.
But it's actually everybody, especially the next generations, who we keep on failing.
Absolutely right, and there are many more people who suffer than just cyclists.
And yet they just don't see it. Ah well, there's democracy for you. As Churchill said, the worst form of government ever devised, except for those others that have been tried from time to time.*
*Google says that Churchill himself was intentionally quoting from another source, but still, it's a good quote.
I'm amazed there haven't been riots over Grenfell. The event was horrific enough, but the ongoing apathy, lack of action and mistreatment of survivors has been dismal. The survivors have been on a different planet from the government and K&C in terms of class.
I'm trying to not go all Legs11 here, but some things are worth direct action, and if riots kicked off over Grenfell, who could blame them?
But it puts the response over cycling in perspective. If Grenfell doesn't induce riots, the drip-drip-drip of cyclist deaths and slow air poisoning will continue to be met with shrugs as long as bellends get to drive their cars through London.
We desperately need our own stop de kindermoord, but until we get it, fuck Learmond-Criqui and her short-sighted ilk who deliberately obstruct progress that will benefit *everyone*.
Despicable cynicism from Westminster Council. They decided they could win votes in the recent local elections by doing a U-turn on Oxford Street pedestrianisation. Presumably their opposition to CS11 was similarly motivated.
The 60% support must have been from a general consultation. Westminster don't seem to be telling us by what crushing majority their residents oppose plans by another borough to make their own pedestrians and cyclists safer and their air less polluted.
I wonder what chance there is of bringing a class action against Westminster for the illegal levels of atmospheric poison on its streets?
Westminster really are holding back the rest of london. They're a disgrace.
If "residents are overwhelmingly opposed to the Cycle Superhighway 11 proposals" then how come "a consultation found 60 per cent support in favour of plans"?
When they say "residents", did they actually mean "the wealthier parts of the local population and in particular those who drive oversized cars"?