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Campaigners hit out at plans for non-protected cycle lanes on part of Kensington High Street

Jeremy Vine says council “can shove this up their exhaust pipe” while London Cycling Campaign accuses borough of prioritising drivers

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, which in December 2020 ripped out protected cycle lanes on Kensington High Street just weeks after they were installed, has revealed plans to put new cycle lanes on part of the major west London thoroughfare, although not the central part where safe infrastructure is most needed.

However, they will not be separated from the main carriageway, instead being marked out in paint, leading the broadcaster Jeremy Vine, who commutes on the route daily, to say that the council “can shove this up their exhaust pipe."

The proposals have also been criticised by the London Cycling Campaign, which has accused the borough or prioritising drivers over people on foot and on bikes and claims it is at odds with government guidelines.

The decision to install the cycle lanes, which will be advisory only, marked out by broken white lines, was taken following a consultation which closed last month. It found that around 66 per cent of respondents were in favour.

The Highway Code advises motorists not to “drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable,” as distinct from mandatory cycle lanes, delineated by a solid white line, where they are told they must not drive or park within their hours of operation.

In contrast to the former cycle lanes protected by wands, which during their brief period of operation ran the length of Kensington High Street from close to the Royal Albert Hall in the east to Olympia in the west, the new cycle lanes will only cover part of the route.

In the east, they will run from the junction with Kensington Palace Gardens to the border with Westminster at Queen’s Gate, a distance of around a quarter of a mile, where riders can head into Kensington Gardens to head towards the protected Cycleway 3 in Hyde Park.

At the western end, the lanes will cover a similar distance, from the junction with Addison Road close to Olympia and the border with Hammersmith & Fulham, to the one with Earls Court Road, opposite the southern entrance to Holland Park.

The central section of Kensington High Street, lined with shops and restaurants and covering more than a quarter of a mile between those two sections and where cyclists have to contend with heavy traffic including buses and taxis, parked cars and the junction with Kensington Church Street, will have no cycle lanes whatsoever.

> Campaigners lose High Court case against council over “premature” cycle lane removal

Simon Munk, infrastructure campaigner at London Cycling Campaign, told the London Evening Standard that the plans conflict with guidance from the government, and that the Conservative-controlled council continued to prioritise motorists over active modes of travel and reducing reliance on motor vehicles.

“This is still a borough where the approach to cycling still seems to be doing the least possible and revving up residents to perceive cycling as an issue for their driving rather than an opportunity to cut car use and climate emissions,” he said.

“The approach that is now proposed is ‘advisory cycle lanes’ not physically protected cycle tracks – which goes against the government’s guidance on cycle safety and scheme design – and the schemes proposed still have big gaps and safety issues.

“RBKC say they haven’t included the central section of Kensington High Street or proposed work on dangerous junctions because of resident ‘concerns’ and risk of further delays.

“But the council itself has already delayed action here for decades and TfL and other councils in London have been able to deliver better schemes on similarly congested and contested roads in weeks or months,” he added.

But Councillor Cem Kemahli, RBKC’s lead member for planning, place and environment, defended the proposals, saying: “It’s heartening to see that people are open to the idea of some cycling infrastructure on our streets and this scheme strikes the right balance between keeping our major through roads moving while allowing space for everyone.

“Road safety auditors made some suggestions to make the scheme safer and discourage close passes.”

He added: “I’m happy to have accepted these, as making our roads safer as well as greener is a priority for us.”

West of Kensington High Street, the protected Cycleway 9 now enables cyclists to ride safely from Olympia through Hammersmith and along King Street and Chiswick High Road to the northern end of Kew Bridge, and works are currently under way to extend it further to Brentford.

To the east, Cycleway 3 provides a quick, safe protected route towards Parliament Square and onwards to Blackfriars, the Tower of London and beyond that, Stratford.

Kensington High Street therefore remains the missing link in what should be an uninterrupted, safe route for cyclists of all ages and abilities, with the council – which also scuppered TfL plans for a segregated cycle lane on Holland Park Avenue, which runs parallel further north, from the Shepherds Bush Roundabout to Notting Hill – insisting that it prefers to focus on quiet, non-segregated back street routes, which by their nature involve often lengthy detours away from the routes that cyclists actually want to use.

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.

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15 comments

Avatar
Adam Sutton | 1 year ago
0 likes

I commute east to west and Kensington sticks out like a sore thumb. In the couple of years I've been doing it on and off even Hammersmith roundabout has been improved vastly for cyclists, who can now completely bypass it.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

"But Councillor Cem Kemahli, RBKC’s lead member for planning, place and environment, defended the proposals, saying: “It’s heartening to see that people are open to the idea of some cycling infrastructure on our streets..."

Some utterly useless cycling infrastructure: but he knows that.

"....and this scheme strikes the right balance between keeping our major through roads moving while allowing space for everyone."

Translated into plain English "We've pretended to do something for cyclists that we know won't work and won't give them any space, in order to pander to the 4x4 drivers."

Heartening to see the Green vote going up in the recent bye elections, even if Ruislip stayed tory, but then, they've repeatedly voted for the biggest liar in British political history, so that shouldn't have surprised anyone.  Unfortunate that if the Green vote had gone to Labour, they would have won.  Proportional representation now!

 

Avatar
Bungle_52 replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
1 like

"Unfortunate that if the Green vote had gone to Labour, they would have won.  Proportional representation now!"

Completely agree but in the meantime voters really need to wake up to tactical voting if they want to get rid of the Tories. I get really annoyed at the reluctance of the opposition parties to agree to electoral pacts to facilitate this.

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eburtthebike replied to Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Part of the problem is that Labour HQ has banned electoral agreements with other parties.

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Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
10 likes

"The Highway Code advises motorists not to “drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable,” as distinct from mandatory cycle lanes, delineated by a solid white line, where they are told they must not drive or park within their hours of operation."

I would pretty much expect that these painted lanes will be parked in and effectively unridable within hours of the paint drying.

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Rome73 replied to Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
4 likes

Agree. The painted white lines will be completely obscured by parked vans, taxis, 4x4s. 

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brooksby replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
4 likes

With the old lane on Kensington High Street, didn't someone watch on cctv and saw a van parked their without moving for *days*...?

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Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
4 likes

I wouldn't expect anything less from the very same councillors that signed off on Grenfell's illegal cladding

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brooksby replied to Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
3 likes

That's a bit unfair: Maybe the white lines will be painted with highly toxic asbestos paint, to use up old stock and save money...

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Miller | 1 year ago
14 likes

After the cons narrow hold in Uxbridge yesterday, attributed to ULEZ opposition, they've probably decided from here on in: screw the climate, let's go all in with drivers. Which is their happy place anyway.

We're stuck with this deadbeat wrecking crew for a solid year till the GE. 

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Rendel Harris replied to Miller | 1 year ago
7 likes

Definitely, see the letters from Braverman and Shapps to Starmer, the former accusing Labour of being the political wing of JSO, the latter, pathetically, telling Starmer he will be invoiced for £3.5k for the damage JSO did to his department's HQ; they've clearly realised they can't fight on their dismal record so they're going for Labour are anti-motorist (if only!) and want to force you to have a migrant living in your spare room.

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Hirsute replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
14 likes

Andrew Simms

"I've written to @grantshapps to request that he pays for the £20 billion odd annual climate damage to the UK. As the political wing of the fossil fuel industry it seems right he should take responsibility, and while this government fails to meet its own targets (see CCC report)"

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perce replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like

Wow. Is that story resurfacing again? It's (almost) laughable.

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Rome73 replied to Miller | 1 year ago
7 likes

Frustrating that ignorance seems to have won the day again. Ask people if they want clean air and less fumes and they will vote yes. Tell them it's a 'tax' against the poor and Marxist conspiracy' and people's brains stop working. Like LTNs. Would you like to live in streets with no rat runs, where kids can play outside and where there is a noticeable drop in noise and exhaust pollution? Yes. Or - you can't drive anywhere, they are taking your freedom away, think of the poor, cyclists are taking over  . . . . . . 

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Hirsute replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
9 likes

"This is unfair, hitting the most vulnerable at the worst time. This needs a complete rethink.”

Pretty sure there are more vulnerable people in society who can't even afford to run a car.

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