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Kensington Palace Gardens residents objected to Quietway because "the masses" would compromise their securityKensington Palace Gardens (licensed CC BY SA 2.0 by LondonEnte on Flickr).jpg

Kensington Palace Gardens residents objected to Quietway because "the masses" would compromise their security

Residents of road unwilling to ‘cede its exclusivity and surrender its exclusivity’
by Alex Bowden
Wed, Aug 24, 2016 12:11
37

Residents of London’s most expensive road objected to its becoming part of one of London’s cycling Quietways on the grounds that use of the road by “the masses” would somehow compromise security.

Kensington Palace Gardens, gated at either end, runs north to south from Bayswater Road to Kensington High Street. One of the most expensive residential streets in the world, it is the location of the Russian and Israeli embassies, among others, while residents include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and oligarch Roman Abramovich.

A planned Quietway which would have made use of the road was scrapped in July and there will now be a gap of half a mile on the Crown Estates-owned road.

Kensington and Chelsea council and Transport for London (TfL) received 15 responses to the consultation, including “several respondents (who) referred to the Quietway proposal posing security risks, unspecified”.

Residents’ letters about the Quietway have been released to the London Evening Standard under the Freedom of Information Act, with names and addresses redacted.

One wrote: “The residents on this private road should not be responsible for the use of the masses. Open use of this private roadway by the masses will cede its exclusivity and surrender its security.”

Another said: “Those who already use the cut-through... are oblivious to the dismount notices and feel the right to pedal through, causing pedestrians to move and young mums with buggies to move out of the way. This is annoying to all, residents and visitors alike, we pay for the upkeep of this private road… in our high council tax and expect to keep the standards of privacy this brings us.”

We have previously reported how the road is not currently off-limits to those on bikes, who can access it round the clock – unlike drivers. However, one letter writer said they wanted to go further and prevent all cyclists from using the road in the future, while another wrote that there were “far too many cyclists on the roadway as it is,” calling for “a blanket ban”.

Kensington Palace Gardens
TFL
Quietways
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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37 comments

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Jitensha Oni replied to alexb | 8 years ago
0 likes

alexb wrote:

unconstituted wrote:

Guarantee you their council tax isn't proportionately high at all. 

 

It's not even actually high. The maximum cost for South Kensington is £2085.60

(Source: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-tax/band-values-and-charges)

Or about £800 more than I pay.

They should move to Westminster, it's about 40% cheaper.

Heeeehh!??? That's considerably less than I pay in Surrey. Sounds like social housing run by the Crown Estate. What a bunch of plebs.

Anyway, I've had nice chats with both Crown Estate wardens and (City of London) Corporation officers in their Surrey domains. They're all for cycling on their property. But then again the people concerned were clearly hoi-polloi, so that's what they would say, innit bruv.

Avatar
burtthebike | 8 years ago
12 likes

The only thing you can say about the letters is that rich people are selfish, but I think I'd already worked that out.

Avatar
STATO replied to burtthebike | 8 years ago
2 likes

burtthebike wrote:

The only thing you can say about the letters is that rich people are selfish, but I think I'd already worked that out.

 

 

Its a private road, not public.  Would you allow the council to put a path across your property, im sure it wont impact you  as you must be poor giving you are complaining about the rich.

The real issue here is which moron in planning allowed the route to be approved without prior consent of the private road for inclusion, they should have known it was an issue and made a better route.

Avatar
bikebot replied to STATO | 8 years ago
5 likes

STATO wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

The only thing you can say about the letters is that rich people are selfish, but I think I'd already worked that out.

 

 

Its a private road, not public.  Would you allow the council to put a path across your property, im sure it wont impact you  as you must be poor giving you are complaining about the rich.

The real issue here is which moron in planning allowed the route to be approved without prior consent of the private road for inclusion, they should have known it was an issue and made a better route.

It's Crown Estate land, which pretty much has its own unique status in law.

And anway, lots of private land does have public paths across it, don't make me quote the Ramblers on this!

 

Avatar
RedfishUK replied to STATO | 8 years ago
4 likes

STATO wrote:

Its a private road, not public.  Would you allow the council to put a path across your property, im sure it wont impact you  as you must be poor giving you are complaining about the rich.

 

The real issue is if it is a Right of Way. There are thousands of miles of "private" roads, tracks and paths in the UK which are rights of way. And the public have every right to use them (as it says on the tin). You don't have to be particularly rich to own one, my last house had a private road at the back, we (the other people in the street) had to maintain it but anyone could go down it.

 

I'm assuming this road is owned by the residents, but is a right if way. No dobt they will now attempt to get some sort of banning order like the one in Mansfield. 

Avatar
bikebot replied to RedfishUK | 8 years ago
5 likes

RedfishUK wrote:

I'm assuming this road is owned by the residents, but is a right if way. No dobt they will now attempt to get some sort of banning order like the one in Mansfield. 

No, it's owned by the Government, but technically the Queen.  Welcome to the fun special status of the Crown Estate, publically owned private land.

Avatar
paulgannon replied to STATO | 8 years ago
1 like

STATO wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

The only thing you can say about the letters is that rich people are selfish, but I think I'd already worked that out.

 

 

Its a private road, not public.  Would you allow the council to put a path across your property, im sure it wont impact you  as you must be poor giving you are complaining about the rich.

The real issue here is which moron in planning allowed the route to be approved without prior consent of the private road for inclusion, they should have known it was an issue and made a better route.

 

It's not 'private' but is public proprety technically belonging to the Crown Estates

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