Westminster City Council plans to seek a judicial review against a cycle superhighway proposal - backing local residents who opposed it, in another blow to London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Conservative-led council's Labour opposition and cycling campaign groups have criticised the move, which comes only weeks after the council blocked Mr Khan 's proposal to pedestrianise Oxford Street, following local opposition.
Construction from the Swiss Cottage end of the bike route to the West End is due to begin in July.
The Cycle Superhighway networks are former mayor Boris Johnson's project. The plans for the segregated bike paths have continued under Mr Khan's leadership, after initial delays over a Regent's Park leg of the routes.
Transport news
The superhighways are designed to separate cyclists from other vehicles, to avoid multi-lane traffic.
While Transport for London 's consultation on the route in 2016 found 60 per cent support for the scheme, the transport authority made some amendments to address residents' concerns it would cause traffic to concentrate elsewhere.
Khan last year vowed to push ahead with the plans.
However, Cycle Superhighway 11, which spans the route between Swiss Cottage and the West End, has continued to meet considerable local opposition.
The Guardian reported on Monday, June 18, that a group campaigning against Cycle Superhighway 11 had filed a judicial review, and that Westminster planned to take similar action.
Westminster Labour leader Adam Hug said the council had withdrawn from talks with the mayor's office and TfL over the Regent's Park stretch of the route.
He criticised the decision to take legal action.
"Westminster Council must stop communicating to TfL through press releases and their lawyers but instead get around the table with them to hash out a compromise that can be made to work for both residents and cyclists," he said.
The council confirmed on Monday (June 18) it would be making a legal challenge to the plans for the cycle superhighway route, with plans to file for a judicial review.
A spokesperson said: "We fully support the provision of safe cycling and we are making major investments in the City to provide this, working closely with TfL and the Cycling Commissioner.
"However, 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.
"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."
London Cycling Campaign accused the council of a pattern of "unpicking progressive measures" in response to the news of the legal challenge.
"By its actions, Westminster Council is putting people needlessly at risk of harm for purely political reasons," the campaign group blogged.
"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."
