Kensington and Chelsea Council has come under fire for blocking plans for cycle superhighways going through the borough.
hfCyclists, the Hammersmith and Fulham branch of the London Cycling Campaign, has accused the Royal borough of denying cyclists a continuous safe cycle route through west London into central London.
Their claims follow concerns raised over cycle lanes in neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham after a cyclist in her 30s was badly injured last week when she was hit by a lorry at the junction of New King’s Road and Fulham High Street.
Alex Ingram, co-ordinator for hfcyclists, said: “At present we don’t believe any continuous, safe cycle provision will be made from Fulham into central London for so long as Kensington and Chelsea continue to block it on their surface streets.”
He highlighted how Fulham Road had cycle lanes added to it in the 1980s which stretched through Kensington and Chelsea, but added: “As soon as Kensington and Chelsea were able to, they removed these lanes. Members of hfcyclists in that period protested these changes strongly.
“Superhighway 9 as planned on Hammersmith Road and Kensington High Street has now been blocked by Kensington and Chelsea. A dense grid of cycle routes is necessary to provide safe space for cycling, and a strong Dutch approach would involve sustainable safety, likely by using one of the many parallel routes exclusively for through cycle traffic, but also using width on these roads where it is providing more than a single lane in each direction.”
Kensington and Chelsea Council admitted it had, and still has, concerns about the impact on pedestrians of introducing a bi-directional bike lane on Kensington High Street for Superhighway 9 which was planned from Heathrow to Hyde Park Corner but which they said would make crossing the road more complicated.
A spokesman said: “We remain unconvinced about ‘floating bus stops’ in very busy roads, which introduce potential for conflict between bus passengers and cyclists.
“The council has undertaken a huge number of initiatives to make cycling safer in the borough but has always considered these in the light of the fact that it needs to take account of all modes of traffic in such a busy part of London if it is to improve overall levels of road safety.”
In September 2013 a council spokeswoman blamed the proposed blue painted cycle lanes on Kensington High Street as being the problem after they said the paint was 'unnecessary and inappropriate'.
A freedom of information request asking why Superhighway 9 was not included in a Transport for London Central London Grid consultation earlier this year revealed it would not go ahead due to Kensington and Chelsea’s lack of support.
TfL announced in September it was consulting on a £48 million east-west cycle superhighway from Acton to Tower Hill through the north of Kensington and Chelsea.
