Kensington and Chelsea council has opened a consultation to create cycle lanes on Fulham Road and Kensington High Street, but they will be advisory only — not the partially segregated cycle lanes that were removed in 2021.
The painted lanes being proposed by the council would be marked out with a broken painted line and would measure 1.5m in width, and the proposals cover Addison Road to Earl’s Court Road and Kensington Palace Gardens to Queen’s Gate in Kensington High Street.
Although the proposals do not involve any changes to waiting or loading restrictions, the Highway Code advises that drivers should not drive or park in an advisory cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable.
Although an advisory cycle lane is better than nothing, it’s a far cry from the segregated cycle lane introduced with Transport for London (TfL) funding in October 2020 during the pandemic. That lane was controversially removed just two months later, which lead to a call for them to refund the money back to TfL and a court action, which was lost, to force its reinstatement.
The removed cycle lane
A lot of the complaints were about road congestion after it was narrowed to create space for the cycle lane, but countering that is the fact that a lot of space occupied by the cycle lane is used as a car park during the day — so the road for motorists wasn’t reduced in width anyway.
What was lost was parking and delivery facilities on the High Street, which could have been designed around given time to come up with alternative options.
Since the huge fuss over the removal of the temporary cycle lanes in late 2020, there’s been a campaign to have them restored.
The advisory lanes are far from ideal, but if they get the go-ahead, and there is the same increase in cycling that happened when the last cycle lanes were in place, then it helps to prove the case that permanent fully segregated cycling lanes are a good idea and should be implemented.
For that reason, while many will quite rightly object to the painted white lane as inadequate, it can be looked at as a small but necessary step towards a permanent cycle lane being installed.
The consultation is here.
Cllr Cem Kemahli, lead member for planning, place and environment, said: “We know there are many competing calls for limited road space and lots of opinions when it comes to how we use our historic roads. This is why we are giving people a chance to have their say on these proposals, which have been designed to minimise impact on traffic flow but also provide space for cyclists.”
OnLondon website has a long read about cycling and cycle lanes
https://www.onlondon.co.uk/ten-years-since-the-vision-for-cycling-in-london-what-has-been-achieved/
One of the questions posed (but not answered, because it can’t be, yet) is whether there has been too much focus on segregated cycling infrastructure (which may have a demographic skew in utilisation, depending on routeing) vs. other was to encourage cycling, such as broadening the number of cyclists) e.g. storage/cycle parking, wayfinding (quieter routes and limited dedicated provisioning), more permissive routing for cycles (fewer banned turns, one way contraflows), wider scale traffic calming, more rental cargo bikes, and so on.
And I think also extending the “walking school bus” concept to cycling to get more children cycling to school even if the parents cannot/will not
As a local I remember clearly it was an utter nightmare back then so why go back for more? Made little sense then and it still makes little sense now . Dont get me wrong. I like to cycle in the warmer month of the year on occasion but i also drive a car especially during autumn and winter so no disrespect to the cyclist but those bike lanes did not work and caused only chaos for the motorists not helped by the fact it interfeared with bus lanes which then had to pull out and drive in car lanes , hence they pulled it. Why do some frustrated pencil red tape laughing types want to re open the whole thing again and bring that fiasco back? Some of those road planers need their heads examined and that Mayor of London needs to go. Instead on focusing on crime he declares war on the motorists and fleeces public transport commuters . I thought this was resolved and got pulled off the program . How wrong was I! Its the wrong road for such congestion which those lanes clearly caused having every one hopping mad. Waste of time , money and effort . I just hope it falls flat on its face again . Why a re run of a failed project ?
You say it was an utter nightmare, and yet the council (which was hardly supportive) commissioned a report and that found that the impact on road traffic was negligible while also providing considerable extra capacity for cycling.
How is a negligible impact also an utter nightmare?
There have been similar (less publicised) concerns about the pandemic Streetscape funded segregated lane on Haverstock Hill in Hampstead/Camden Town. Some concerns on traffic, more about accessibility by car/van of the retail shops and services that the lane passes (much of the route having single yellow lines prior to cycle lanes)
There is a consultation to replace the temporary lanes with something permanent.
I have cycled the Haverstock Hill cycle path a couple of times (and seen others using it), and I am not convinced it achieves the right balance for broad based cycling use (the route, along an arterial road, optimises the commuter cyclist more than local cyclists, and is also quite hilly). Therefore I am somewhat conflicted.
Wayposted routes on nearby quieter roads might be better, less controversial, and safer cycling provision but will not be as direct for commuters, and there is the glaring gap of not having cycling provision on nearby B509 Adelaide road east-west, which has an HS2 construction pinch point making cycling more dangerous in peak traffic.
I would like to comment about the cyclists Lane.i live on Kensington high St.i am surprised why you should do a bicycle lane , last time it caused traffic jam since there is only two lanes on high street Kensington. The bicycles are using high street Kensington and nothing happening why don’t you keep it as it is . The traffic jam is going to cause pollution and frustration and people park during weekends and vans offloads goods for shops .the cars pay tax and contribute to the economy, what does bicycle do ? I think you should take lots of things before you go ahead.
Cyclists are also people who contribute tax, Hassan. And I’d question how much UK tax those driving their foreign-plated Range Rovers and Ferraris up and down High Street Kensington all day really contribute.
Hassan i hear you loud and clear but its seems Mark wants to shift some blame on ‘foreign number plated cars’ burning down the ken high besides ‘questioning their tax situation in the UK’ ! He also lectures us that cyclists pay tax too. Well, so do pedestrians ! WE all pay tax in one way or another , no matter how we get about town . Of course some like to play the tune of ” the bloody foreigners with their bloody foreign number plated cars “. In Marks world view , the fault must surely to a certain degree, lay with the dastardly foreigners eh. WE all know what chaos, grid lock, and traffic jams those lanes caused last time around which had every one hopping mad . There is a time and place but Ken High does not seem the right place or venue for another round of yet more chaos and jams caused by those lanes which cost an arm and leg to set up and take down. Does the council have money to burn? Should the usual suspects of the council and the mayor’s side kicks not concentrate on crime or housing instead, rather then making life harder for motorists. Seems to have become an obsession , this quest for cleaner air and bike lanes . I managed cycling with out them for a life time . A bit overrated if you ask me.
“Although an advisory cycle lane is better than nothing,” – not so, several studies have shown there are more accidents when advisory are in place, presumably down to the false sense of confidence they invoke.